Summer Fun or Not?
by Detective-JazzyFe
Summary: Summer break has just begun for Zoey & her friends. Marching band is starting soon, of course with the usual band drama. Will this summer turn out okay for Zoey & the gang or will it be too crazy to handle? **2ND STORY IS UP! CHECK IT OUT!**
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Well, this is my first story on FanFic...although I wrote this back my freshman/sophomore year of high school. Yes, I know...very late to be posting it now. But hey, better later than never. This is the first of a whole short story series (which only 2 stories are completed lol). ****And again, I did write this a long time ago...so if something sounds cheesy, forgive me haha. I'm re-reading and fixing some stuff as I go. ****I'm almost done with school, so once May 13th comes around I can get back into the writing mode. Well here it is...I hope you enjoy it. Please R&R! :)**

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><p><span>Summer Fun...or Not?<span>

Finally, the school year for Seaside Heights Middle School ended just yesterday, June 16th. It's now Saturday and two best friends are going to have one summer that they never would expect to ever happen and will never, ever forget it.

Zoey Rivera and Conner Thompson have been friends ever since they were practically babies; they've been in the same class all the way up till 7th grade. They live three houses apart in the same neighborhood, along with a few of their friends from school. Zoey has been a part of band since 3rd grade and she is very much into it. She usually refers herself as being "the band geek". Connor has always been into sports, but the two love surfing, skating, and snowboarding together. Their birthdays are in the same month too. Conner's birthday is June 20th and Zoey's is a week right after. This will be the summer of a lifetime for those two, and the rest of their friends. After what happens this summer, things will definitely change with some people throughout their 8th grade year.

Zoey was in her room sleeping, enjoying the extra sleep she has now until she starts going to practices for the high school marching band again in July. She heard noises outside her bedroom door, but that didn't seem to bother her much. Someone opened the door and crept in. Zoey opened one eye and looked around the room; she didn't see anyone. She covered her head with her pillow and went back to sleep. Conner, who was the person who snuck into her room, laughed hysterically, but tried not to laugh too loud as he quietly walked next to her bed. When Zoey moved, he backed up a little to keep distance. Once Zoey turned around and was lying on her stomach, Conner grinned evilly and jumped right on top of her.

"OW!" Zoey screamed.

"Well, hey there sunshine." Conner laughed. Zoey turned her head to try and look at him, but couldn't really move her head from under the pillow.

"What the heck were you thinking, Conner? You could have killed me."

"Darn. I guess I'll go to plan 'B' next time."

"You are a nut, my friend."

"Yeah, and? You aren't?"

"Well, ok, I am." They both laughed.

"So, guess whose birthday is in three days." Conner said happily. He got off of Zoey and sat next to her on the bed.

"Well yours, duh. And whose birthday is seven days after yours?" Zoey asked sitting up.

"It will be your birthday. Excited?"

"I'm so excited."

"You're not the only one. So," Conner laid back onto the pillow with his arms behind his head. "What do you want to do today?"

"Uh, I have no idea. The beach I guess?" Zoey asked.

"Seems like a plan. If we go now, we can meet everybody. Decided to have a little summer party."

"Huh? Everyone is there already?"

"Yeah...DJ called me an hour ago. He suggested that we should head down there. Big party they're having and it only started 20 minutes ago."

"Well, lets get a move on then." Zoey stood up on her bed and jumped onto Conner.

Conner gasped for air as he try to get Zoey off of him. "Ok, that sort of hurt."

"What a shame. I didn't kill you." Zoey laughed. She jumped on Conner a couple of times.

"Jeez man. Can you stop now?" Conner pleaded.

"Sure. I'm going to need you for the chicken game. Can't beat up my partner too soon." Zoey said as she patted Conner's forehead. She hopped right off him and walked to her dresser.

"I'm just going to go before you towel whip me or something." Conner said as they both started laughing. "I'll be outside." Zoey gave a nod as Conner walked out.

Zoey changed into her Roxy bikini and grabbed her beach stuff. She walked out her bedroom and slid down the banister. She grabbed her surfboard from the bottom of the staircase and walked into the kitchen. Her mom was making lunch and her little brother, Jesse, sat at the table with his collection of Pokemon cards.

"Mom, I'm heading off to the beach with Conner. I'll call you later." Zoey said.

"Ok dear. Take a bag of chips or something to eat at least." Susan said. She sat Jesse's lunch on the table in front of him.

"No problem, mom. Conner and I will get something to eat." Zoey told her. She walked out the house and down the porch steps. Conner stood on the sidewalk with his surfboard. They met up and started walking down the street onto Oakland Ave.

"Hey, want to stop into Dunkin Donuts to get something?" Conner asked.

"Sure." Zoey answered. The walk to about 5 five minutes, giving the two friends some short time to catch up with each other.

They walked in and ordered two bagels with cream cheese and two cokes. They got their food and went to a table. Zoey laid her surfboard against the wall and sat down next to Conner. He sat her bagel and coke on the table.

"I hope the waves are good today. They sucked the past two weeks." Zoey said as she bit into her bagel.

"Yeah, they were pretty lame. Every time I tried to catch a good wave, it would just disappear. I wanted to cry." Conner took a sipped of his coke.

"So, are you going to catch any today? Or just sit out?"

"I don't know yet. I haven't thought about it much. I guess I can try to go out today and get something."

"Oh come on. You have to surf today."

"Ok, I'll think about it." Conner smiled.

"Let's get going. It's already a quarter to 12." Zoey said. She and Conner both got up and they grabbed their surfboards. They walked to onto the boardwalk and walked down to Pier Beach. Once they reached the booth they waved to Ann, the lady who worked in the booth, and walked down the stairs.

They saw their friends in the water playing football so they laid their stuff on the sand next to the layout of towels, took off their clothing until they were in their bathing suits, and ran into the water to join in the game.

"About time you two got here." John said.

"We know, John." Zoey and Conner both said.

"So, what took so long?" Cindy asked.

"I had to wake up Zo since she wouldn't get up on her own." Conner answered.

"And how did you accomplish that?" Jacky asked. Zoey shot a glance over at her and she jumped a little. "No offensive Zoey, but you are pretty tough to wake up." Jacky joked.

"I jumped on her." Conner said.

"Yeah he did, but I got him back though." Zoey chuckled.

"Ok, well let's get the party started already!" Carlos yelled.

Everyone screamed in joy and then Tony turned on some music. Some of the friends danced in the sand and some continued to play football. Zoey and Conner decided to surf with Jacky and DJ before the good waves went away. Before Conner picked up his board John came over and whispered something into his ear. Conner looked at him like he was crazy but John just laughed. Conner sighed and grabbed his board, then he made is way out into the water with Zoey. Conner and Zoey sat on their surfboards and watched DJ go out to catch a wave.

"The waves are really nice." Zoey said as she laid back on her board.

"Yeah they are." Jacky said.

"I think these waves are probably the best we had so far since May." Conner added.

"DJ got better. Did you train with him a lot, Jacky?" Zoey asked.

"Huh? Oh yeah. From March we came to the beach a lot to surf. He has gotten way better since then, considering he started then too." Jacky said.

"Wow. You did a good job." Conner said.

"Thanks. It's just that love connection." Jacky said with a grin. The three of them laughed.

"But man, in a week, it's going to be your four month anniversary. That's really good." Zoey blurted out.

"I know. Next week we're leaving to go to Hawaii with our families. I can't wait."

"Seems like a good anniversary trip." Conner said.

"So, would you guys be back by my birthday?" Zoey asked.

"I don't know yet. I have to ask my folks. If not, we'll just get you something from Hawaii."

"Sweet...that's cool."

"I don't know about you two, but I'm going to catch some waves." Jacky rode off near DJ.

"So, what do you want to do now?" Zoey asked.

"We could just sit here. I'm actually enjoying the sun from here." Conner suggested.

"Same here, it feels really nice." Zoey laid her head back down. Conner grabbed Zoey's hand and held it in the water with his. Then he took her hand and smacked it on her head.

"Hey!" Zoey squealed. Conner laughed at her as she sat up and splashed him with water.

"So you want to have a war huh?"

"We can take it there, bud." Zoey grinned.

They kept splashing each other with water. After a few seconds, Zoey decided to give up and lay back on her board. Conner stared at her for a while.

"What is it?" she asked. She got up and started to head out to the waves with Conner following behind.

"Nothing…."

"Are you sure about that? You're looking at me like you want something..."

"Well, it's more like something I kind of have to do."

"Aw man, don't tell me John dared you to do something that involves me again. I bet that's why he stopped you a while ago, huh?" Zoey stopped.

"Yeah, that's what he did."

"Is it bad?"

"Define 'bad'..." Zoey just looked at Conner.

"What did tell you to do?" she asked.

"Well, um, he dared me...to either kiss...you or…."

"Or?"

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><p><strong>AN: Hmm...what did John tell Conner to do exactly? I hope you all enjoyed this first chapter! Reviews definitely will help! :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: What's John's second part of the dare Conner has to do? Which one will he choose to do? How will Zoey feel about it? What else could happen at the beach? Enjoy the second chapter...R&R please :) I want to make you happy while reading stories, so your reviews will make me happy and help improve!**

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><p>"De-bikini you." Conner said laughing hesitantly.<p>

"De-bikini me? Man, how freakish is John?" Zoey asked with concern.

"Freakish wouldn't describe him."

"No, it doesn't..."

Zoey and Conner stared at the water for a while. Zoey sighed and looked at Conner.

"So, what exactly are you going to do?" Zoey asked quietly.

"Well...the idea of me to de-bikini you didn't really crossed my mind." Conner looked at Zoey. He could tell that she wasn't sure about anything at all.

"That seems reasonable...I guess." Zoey sighed. "So, when do we have to do it?"

"Um, actually I don't know if John wanted me to do it in front of him or not." Conner said. They both laughed a little and then stopped...the moment turned into an awkward silence. Zoey slid over next to Conner.

"Right now wouldn't hurt, will it?"

"No, I guess not." Conner looked at Zoey and just stared at her. Zoey started to smile a bit, and then looked like she was about to burst. Conner laughed.

"Let's just get it over with before I just start cracking up." Zoey said.

"Uh yeah, good idea." Conner said.

He leaned towards her board and he pressed his lips against her lips. The softness of her lips seemed to send a shock to him. He put his hand on her cheek and started to deepen the kiss. Zoey started to enjoy he kiss with Conner and she was amazed to how great of a kisser her best friend was.

Two minutes later, Conner pulled away and Zoey opened her eyes. She looked at Conner and he just fell back onto his board. Zoey touched her lips where her best friend just kissed her. They were both shocked. Nothing but silence between them both.

They sat there for a while. They just sat on their surfboards kicking their feet in the water. A while later, their friends started to yell their names to let them know to come back to shore.

"Well, looks like they want us." Conner said.

"Yeah. We should head back." Zoey suggested. Conner nodded and then they turned their surfboards back around. They started to paddle back to shore when Zoey stopped in front of Conner.

"Just before we go back,"

"Hmm?" Conner mumbled.

Zoey leaned in towards Conner and kissed him. Conner instantly moved his hand to her face and began to intensify the kiss. Zoey opened her mouth and allowed Conner's tongue to freely play with hers. They continued their kiss for about another minute. Zoey pulled away slowly and both she and Conner smiled awkwardly. They started to paddle back to the beach where their friends were. Everyone was getting their things together and started leave the beach. When Zoey and Conner left the beach, their walk was very silent and seemed like the longest walk they have ever taken. No one talked at all. Ten minutes later, they reached Zoey's house. She looked at Conner and he sighed.

"So, talk to you later?" He asked.

"Yeah, sure." Zoey said. He gave her a hug.

"See ya." He said as he walked over to his house. Zoey waved good-bye and walked in her house. She dropped her surfboard and went straight up to her room. She threw her bag down and sat right in front of the computer. She logged on and opened up AIM. She searched her buddy list to see if Jacky was online. And just like magic, Jacky messaged her.

**Rocking Flautist 90:** **hey whats up?**

_Band Geek Zoey:_ _something totally weird just happened_

**Rocking Flautist 90:** **really? like what?**

_Band Geek Zoey: at the beach, Conner & I kissed_

**Rocking Flautist 90: OMG! like make-out or just kissed?**

_Band Geek Zoey: like make out_

**Rocking Flautist 90: aw that's so adorable. I wondered why u 2 were out in the water for that long**

_Band Geek Zoey: Jacky, idk what to do now. it just feels weird_

**Rocking Flautist 90: well, did he just do it like randomly or he asked u if he could?**

_Band Geek Zoey: he said it was a dare John told him to do. he said he just had to kiss me but we ended up making out, twice actually_

**Rocking Flautist 90: twice? are u kidding me?**

_Band Geek Zoey: I wish. so idk what is going to happen to us now?_

**Rocking Flautist 90: man same here. but was he any good at least?**

_Band Geek Zoey: oh yes, he definitely was lol. when he kissed me, I felt myself going through heaven or something_

**Rocking Flautist 90: well, it seems like u like Conner now or something**

_Band Geek Zoey: don't you remember that I told you I had a semi-crush on him like in march?_

**Rocking Flautist 90: oh yeah. i totally forgot. well, do u still like him?**

_Band Geek Zoey: I didn't really know for sure before the kiss. but now it's just like argh I think I'm head over heels for him_

**Rocking Flautist 90: hey, friends with benefits man. u can never go wrong with that. that's how the whole thing w/ DJ & me started**

_Band Geek Zoey: lol that's true. well who knows? after today, I think that we might head that direction and knowing Conner, he's just as confused about the whole situation like me_

**Rocking Flautist 90: yeah. I'm like so happy for u!**

_Band Geek Zoey: ha-ha. well thanks I guess lol. it was only a kiss_

**Rocking Flautist 90: or in ur case, a make-out session in heaven. hey I have to split. see ya l8r!**

_Band Geek Zoey: okay bye_

**Rocking Flautist 90 has signed off at 8:23:39 pm.**

Zoey got up and plopped onto her bed staring up at her ceiling. She smiled thinking about the kiss at the beach and suddenly fell asleep.

At Conner's house a few hours later, Conner sat at the computer talking about the same topic with DJ and Danny in an AIM chat room. They both pretty much told him to go and finally admit to Zoey that he liked her. Conner couldn't help but feel very confused. He left the chat room and put his away message up. Conner sat at his desk and kept thinking about the kiss at the beach. He couldn't get the thought out of his head. He got up and grabbed his coat. Conner left his house and walked down the street to Zoey's house. He looked up at Zoey's bedroom window. He picked up a couple of rocks and threw them at the window. Zoey heard the rocks hit the window and knew it had to be Conner. She got up, grabbed her robe, and walked outside. She saw Conner sitting on the lawn so she walked down the porch steps and sat next to him.

"Hey…" Conner said.

"Hey. What made you come here at two in the morning?" Zoey said yawning just a bit.

"Well, the fact that I couldn't stop thinking about what happened. And I'm sorry if I woke you up."

"It's alright. Hey, at least it was someone who I like waking me up instead of my brother." Zoey and Conner both laughed.

There was a silence for a bit. Zoey laid back on the lawn and stared at the stars in the sky. Conner stared at the street, trying not to look at her.

"Conner?" Zoey said.

"Yeah?" he answered as he turned around to look at Zoey.

"About what happened earlier," Zoey sighed. "You think it's going to change anything between us now?"

"I don't know. I don't really think it would be such a problem if something did change." Conner answered. Zoey just gave him a worried look. "It'll be okay though...I mean, there has been worse stuff we've gotten through together."

"Worse stuff? You thought the kiss was bad?" Zoey became defensive by his comment. Conner shook his head and rested his hand on top of hers.

"Not at all..." He sighed deeply. Conner looked into Zoey's eyes and he could sense the tension. He smiled and rubbed the top of her hand. "Nothing bad will change between us. Think of it as a positive thing. I mean, we are friends. We are very close. Nothing horrible will change that. We care about each other deeply...as friends, I mean." He reassured her. Zoey gave him a weak smile.

"Well, it's not like anything bad will happen anyway, right?" Zoey asked.

"Yeah, I guess. But hey, worse case scenario, we will just go with the flow. And we can just surf our troubles away, then go to the ice cream shop on Main Street and order a thousand sundaes."

"Ha, see that's why we're best buds. We think so much alike...and I'm really liking that idea." Zoey laughed. She sighed deeply and turned to stare off at the stars.

"Are you still in your bathing suit?" Conner randomly asked.

"Yeah. You too?"

"Yep." Conner began to yawn and glared down at his cell phone. He finally realized that it was pretty late. "Well, I don't know about you, but I'm pretty tired."

"Same here. After all, I was woken up by some fool and rocks." Zoey grinned.

"Jeez...thanks." Conner said. He stood up and helped Zoey to her feet.

"I'll see you later on, I guess?"

"Yeah...you will." Zoey smiled. They both gave each other a tight hug. They waved good-bye and walked off to their houses for a night of peaceful sleep.

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><p><strong>AN: Sorry for the short chapter. I'm a bit distracted by Law & Order: SVU right now :D And that seemed like a nice, calm place to stop anyway. Hmm...with Zoey and Conner leaving that lovely kissing session behind them, what else could possibly happen on their 2nd day of summer break? Reviewsss pleaseeee!**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Here goes another chapter. Something's up with Conner, but Jacky and DJ seem to have an idea of what's bothering him. Zoey, Conner, and the rest of their friends also find out some great news to look forward to in the future. Enjoy! Spread the word to friends!  
><strong>

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><p>Sunday morning came about quickly and it was around 9 a.m. Conner was up and in his backyard, laying on the diving board of his pool, just resting. He still had yesterday's beach day stuck in his head. He couldn't help but think about it.<p>

DJ and Jacky came walking down the street from Jacky's house and seen Conner's mom out in the front yard sweeping the porch.

"Hi, Mrs. Thompson." They both greeted happily.

Angela Thompson looked up from her sweeping duties and smiled. "Hi kids. Having a good morning?"

"Yeah, we are." DJ replied. He looked around the yard for Conner, but he was nowhere to be found. "Is Conner up by any chance?" He asked.

"Yes he is, but he asked not to be bothered right now."

"Oh, how come?" Jacky asked. She looked at DJ suspiciously and gave each other a nod.

"Who knows? He's been acting a little weird this morning. I'll let him know you two stopped by."

"Ok. Bye, Mrs. Thompson." Jacky and DJ said. They waved good-bye and continued to walk on.

"Hmm...did you talk to Zoey last night?" DJ asked.

"What do you think? It's obvious that you talked to Conner."

"Do you think they might like each other?" DJ stopped instantly and glanced from Conner's house to Zoey's. Jacky shrugged her shoulders and continued to walk.

"I mean I guess so...but we need to let them decide. From the conversation I had with Zo last night, she seemed pretty confused about the whole situation."

"Yeah, same with Conner." DJ replied. He sighed and grabbed Jacky's hand. "Hopefully there won't be any awkward moments when we're all together..."

"I don't think there will be. They will be okay." Jacky confirmed. She gave DJ a quick peck on the cheek and they continued their morning walk.

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><p>Zoey was still asleep in her bed. She had a rough time going to sleep last night after her conversation with Conner. He and the beach was all she thought about. However, she managed to get drag herself to bed for a few hours of sleep.<p>

Susan was downstairs in the kitchen making breakfast. Zoey's dad, Ben, was in the shower getting ready for another day at the community Theater. Zoey's brother, Jesse, woke up around 7 a.m. and has been sitting in the living room watching TV.

"Jesse, sweetie, can you let dad know that breakfast is ready?" Susan yelled from the kitchen.

"Ok mommy." Jesse got up, dropped the remote on the couch and ran up the stairs. He walked up to the bathroom door and knocked on it.

"Yes?" Ben asked.

"Daddy, mommy says that breakfast is done." Jesse said.

"Ok, thanks Jess. Let mom know I'll be right down."

"Okey dokey. Should I wake up Zo?"

"No, don't wake her up. Just leave her." Jesse shrugged his shoulders and ran back downstairs to continue watching his morning cartoons.

15 minutes later, Jesse, Ben and Susan were at the kitchen table eating breakfast. Zoey finally woke up from her slumber. She made her way downstairs and walked into the kitchen, dressed in her light blue bikini and surf shorts.

"Good morning everyone." She said as she grabbed her plate of food.

"Hi honey. Had a good night?" Ben asked.

"I guess you can say that." Zoey smiled.

"So where are you heading off to today?" Susan asked.

"Um," Zoey ate a piece of bacon. "I might be going down to Rocky's with Conner. Then probably over Jacky's afterwards."

"Okay. Try to stop by around four-ish. Kaitlyn said she might stop by for a little. She wanted to talk to you."

"Alright. I'll come by. Wait," Zoey got up but didn't move from the table. "Isn't she supposed to be in Italy with Terrence right now?"

"Yeah, but I guess she had a change of plans." Ben answered as he sipped his coffee.

"Oh. Well, I'm off. See you later." Zoey waved good-bye to her family and walked outside.

Zoey decided to walk to Conner's house to see if he finally was awake. She saw the gate opened to the backyard. She walked to the gate and peaked in. She saw Conner's parents on the back porch drinking lemonade. They glanced over at Zoey and smiled. She waved hello to them and looked over to the pool to see Conner on the diving board. She crept over quietly and climbed on the diving board, trying not to make it move or make any noises. She sat there and stared at Conner. He noticed that the sunlight was being blocked. He sat up quickly and took off his sunglasses. Startled to see Zoey, he fell off the diving board into the pool. Zoey laughed hysterically as Conner poked his head out the water.

"Hey there, buddy." Zoey said grinning. "Did I surprise you?"

"Yeah, you did." Conner wiped away the water drops from his face. "What's up?"

"Oh nothing really. Just thinking about going over to Rocky's. Wanna come?" Zoey asked.

"Do you mind if I changed first?" Conner asked. Zoey started to think a bit and gave Conner a look.

"Yes I do." Zoey giggled. Conner dropped is head into the water. "I'm just kidding. Go and change." Conner then swam over to Zoey and looked up at her.

"Well thanks. I think you should probably go and change too." Conner grinned as he pulled Zoey right in the pool. Zoey came back up from under water and looked at Conner as he laughed.

"You're a jerk, Conner. You know that, right?" Zoey said as she splashed him.

"And your point is?" Conner splashed Zoey back. They kept on splashing each other for another minute. Conner gave in and the two decided to get out the pool. They swam to the other side and sat on the edge.

"Maybe instead of changing, we should sit here and dry off." Conner suggested.

"Good idea." Zoey agreed. They sat there for ten minutes in the sun talking about random things.

After they were dried off, they walked to Rocky's and seen a few of their friends threw the big glass window. Ellyn, Danny, John, Cindy and Randy were playing air hockey inside the arcade. They walked right over to their friends.

"Hey guys." Conner and Zoey said.

"Hey." The rest of them said.

"So what's up, you two?" Danny asked.

"Nothing really. You know, just the usual thing we do." Zoey said.

"So who's winning?" Conner asked.

"Cindy is. She's killing John." Ellyn answered.

"Hey, Cindy just seems to be lucky today. I'll beat her next game." John said.

"John that's what you said the last six games you played." Ellyn said. Everyone started to laugh.

"Jeez John, I don't know if it's me, but you just suck at air hockey!" Conner said. John's face started to turn pink from embarrassment.

"So, shut up." John said. They all laughed. The group continued to play air hockey and just talked for a while.

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><p>It was around two thirty and the gang decided to leave Rocky's for some ice cream. They had a difficult time deciding where to go, seeing as there are about 5 ice cream shops in Seaside. They decided to go to Johnny's on the boardwalk. Once everyone bought their ice cream, they sat outside the ice cream shop to eat their dessert.<p>

"Well, what to do now guys?" Randy asked.

"I have no clue. Have any ideas, Cindy?" Zoey asked as she licked her ice cream cone.

"Nope. You, Dan?" She asked.

"Nah." Danny continued to eat his ice cream.

"You're not even going to talk, are you?" Conner asked.

"Nah." Danny said again. He just continued to lick his ice cream, and his other cones. Everyone else just shrugged their shoulders and sighed.

"Guys, we seriously need something to do." Ellyn blurted out.

"Yeah we do. We've been sitting her for the past ten minutes." Cindy said.

"And Danny is on his fifth ice cream cone now." Randy added.

"So, your point is?" Danny said looking up.

"My point is that we need to do something else besides sitting here watching a dozen ice cream cones get eaten." Cindy said. Everyone nodded their heads in agreement.

"Well, I have to go anyway. My mom said to stop by home to see Ms. Sanderson." Zoey said getting up.

"Hold on a minute. Isn't she supposed to be in Italy with Mr. Smith?" Randy asked. Everyone looked at Zoey.

"Yeah that's what I asked my parents. They said she probably had a change of plans. I have no idea why she's still in Jersey because he's in Italy already." Zoey shrugged.

"Well, we'll tag along. Seeing Ms. Sanderson is way better than watching Danny eating ice cream." Conner said. Everyone laughed.

"Ok then. Off to Zoey's house we go." Ellyn said. The group walked down the boardwalk to Zoey's house. Once they reached the house, they decided to hang out in Zoey's backyard on her trampoline to wait for Ms. Sanderson's arrival.

Kaitlyn Sanderson was the group's past homeroom and social studies teacher in 6th and 7th grade. She was also with them throughout elementary school, and surprisingly, pre-school too. They and the rest of the class grew close to Kaitlyn and since then, the class was never separated. So every kid knew a lot about each other and Kaitlyn as well. It was like they were best friends with their own teacher for the past nine years. Kaitlyn also knew Conner's and Zoey's parents very well because they went to junior high and high school together.

"Kids, she's here." Ben yelled from the back door.

All the kids looked up and jumped off the trampoline. They raced each other to the house. They walked in the kitchen and saw Kaitlyn sitting with Zoey's parents. They walked up to her and gave her hug. After Kaitlyn greeted the kids, she took a seat at the kitchen table with Zoey's parents. Conner raced Randy to the last chair and Conner won. Zoey just walked over and sat on Conner's lap. The rest of the gang stood around the table.

"So Ms. Sanderson, how come you're still in Jersey and Mr. Smith is in Italy? Everyone thought you two would be in Italy together by now." Ellyn said. The rest of the kids nodded along with Ellyn.

"Well the reason why I haven't left yet is because I had some things going on with the school. Mr. Smith, on the other hand, has his mother's side of the family in Italy so he's staying with them until I get there." She answered.

"Really? Did you get fired?" John asked. Cindy smacked him in the back of his head.

"No John. I actually had head teacher meetings, one meeting with the social studies department, and I was also told that I'm going to teach 8th grade social studies this year." The kids looked at each other and smiled.

"So since you moved up to 8th grade social studies, it's probably most likely that the whole class will have you again this year, right?" Cindy asked.

"Yes. I have you all again this year. I'm your homeroom teacher, social studies teacher and the whole enchilada. It really didn't surprise me though." Kaitlyn answered.

"Yeah, we had a feeling that you would moved up to 8th grade with us the last week of school." Conner said.

The rest of the group nodded and agreed. Kaitlyn reached into her bag and pulled out a few packets. Zoey's parents left to go sit in the living room. Cindy took one seat and Danny took the other seat. Ellyn sat on Danny's lap.

"Ok guys, here are the packets that we get every year during homeroom. You know what to do with them. Just fill those out so we won't have to waste any time doing it the first day. Zoey and Conner, I'll leave the extras with you two and it will be your job to get them to the rest of the class to fill out. Give them to Mrs. Rivera and she will give them to me." Kaitlyn said. They both looked at each other and nodded.

"Did you get our schedules yet?" John asked.

"No, they haven't worked on them yet except for the 7th graders." Kaitlyn replied. "I know that you guys have Mr. Banks again for English and you have two new teachers for science and math."

"Oh great...another dreadful year with Banks." Zoey said.

"What's wrong with Mr. Banks? He's a good English teacher."

"Yes, he is. It's just that he is very boring." Conner said.

"Yeah, and when he talks, it makes you want to sleep." Cindy added.

"Well, I do agree with you on that." Kaitlyn chuckled. "But hey, it won't be that bad. Besides, it's your last year at Seaside Heights Middle School. Enjoy it."

"Yeah, you're right. But dealing with Banks again is just torture." Randy said. Everyone just laughed.

Kaitlyn glanced at her watch and her eyes grew big. "Well, I have to get going. I have a lot of packing to do. I'm leaving tomorrow morning." Kaitlyn stood up and gathered her things.

She gave John, Randy, Ellyn, Danny and Cindy a hug. They said good-bye and went back outside onto the trampoline. Zoey and Conner walked to the front of the house with Kaitlyn's paper work and school bag. The two helped her put everything in the car and she stood in front of them.

"Listen you two; obviously this year is going to be pretty tough, for the three of us especially. There are a lot of things we're going to face and you both are the only two I can really trust more than the others. I would really like it if you guys can help me out this year." Kaitlyn pleaded.

"No problem. We've got you covered Katie. No biggie." Conner said. Ms. Sanderson smiled and hugged Conner.

"Thanks, Conner." She said. She broke away from the hug. Conner stepped back to let Zoey go ahead.

"I just want to say now that if I do become moody at all this year, I really and truly apologize for it." She chuckled a bit.

"I know, so don't worry about it so much." Zoey said while smiling. She hugged Kaitlyn tightly and then broke away. "Just have a safe and fun trip. We'll see you in September."

"And we'll get the packets to everyone else." Conner said as he wrapped his arm around Zoey's neck.

"Thanks, you two. We'll, enjoy your summer and I'll see you when I get back."

Kaitlyn got into the car and started it up. She glanced over to Zoey and Conner, smiled, and waved good-bye to them both. They waved good-bye as they watched their teacher drive away until they meet again in September.

Zoey and Conner walked to the porch steps and sat down. John, Randy, Ellyn, Cindy and Danny appeared from the house and sat down on the porch next to Zoey and Conner.

"Another year together, once again." Randy said.

"Yeah..." Everyone else said.

"It seems like a sign." Zoey said.

Conner looked down at her. "How's that?" he asked.

"Well," Zoey sat up. "We and the rest of the class have been with Ms. Sanderson ever since pre-school. No one attempted to break us up into other classes since then."

"So what's your point, Zo? It's not like it's a bad thing or anything." Ellyn claimed.

"It's not a bad thing. It's just that it was a little weird for us to be together the past nine years." Zoey said. "I mean, I know that we are with all of our friends within the class and our other ones outside our class until we all graduate high school senior year, unless someone moves, but otherwise I think its really strange you know?"

"I've actually been thinking that." Danny said as everyone turned to look at him. "I think by the time we reach high school, Ms. Sanderson will still be with us and I bet all of us will be in the same homeroom and same classes again."

"Eh, it could happen. We all know that's a possibility, but I think homerooms are separated by last names or something like that in high school. And they barely go to homeroom anyway. But there's no way it's going to be like that by the time we head off to college. All of us are going to want to go to different colleges anyways." Cindy added.

"Why does it matter now? We're going to be together and nothing is going to change the relationships between Ms. Sanderson and the class. Let's just worry about getting passed the eighth grade." Randy said.

"Wow Randy, that's the smartest thing you have ever said." John said in shock.

Randy smacked him hard on his head and everyone laughed hysterically. The rest of the gang's friends came by Zoey's house to pick up the packets Kaitlyn left. They spent the rest of the day hanging out in Zoey's backyard, reminiscing on the past and having a good time enjoying their summer.

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><p><strong>AN: Looks like everyone is happy to hear that they will be with Kaitlyn for their last year of middle school. What do you think of the story so far? Let's see what happens next...R&R :)**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: I know what you're thinking...where exactly does marching band happen in this story? Well to answer your question, it's soon! You will get to see, well read, Zoey and Jacky in action at rehearsals, which doesn't start till July. We're still in June in the story. So hang tight! I hope you're still enjoying the story though. If you have suggestions or comments, please leave a review! I can definitely rewrite some stuff...which I have to do anyway LOL :)**

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><p>11 p.m. came around quickly and everyone has left Zoey's house, leaving Zoey and Conner alone. They have been laying in Zoey's hammock on her front porch, gazing at the stars and talking about random things.<p>

"Well, today was pretty interesting." Conner said.

"Sure was." Zoey responded half asleep.

"You look really tired." Conner said. "Why don't you go upstairs to bed?"

"I would, but there are a few problems."

"Really?" Conner sat up. "Like what?"

"Well I'm too exhausted to move for one, I'm comfy where I am, and it's really nice out here."

"Hmm...good enough reasons, I suppose."

"You seem pretty slumped yourself."

"Yup. I'm not moving for the same reasons."

"Copycat." Zoey giggled quietly.

"Yup." Conner yawned. "You wouldn't mind if I slept here would you?"

"Hmm.…." Zoey was fast asleep next to Conner in the hammock.

"Guess not." Conner chuckled. He pulled a blanket off the chair next to the hammock and covered himself and Zoey. Then he was fast asleep.

* * *

><p>June 19th, Monday morning. It was around 9:30. Zoey rolled over onto her back and opened her eyes slowly. She noticed that she was outside lying in the hammock on her front porch. She looked next to her and found Conner sleeping.<p>

"Whoa, he's still here?" Zoey thought to herself. She sat up and tried to get up without moving the hammock too much. She did manage to get off the hammock without it moving, but she fell on flat on her face.

"Ouch. Stupid hammock." Zoey muttered to herself. Zoey got up and brushed herself off. She walked to the front door and walked in the house. Zoey's parents were still asleep and same with her brother.

"Hmm…well if everyone is still asleep, that means more food for me." Zoey grinned big and ran into the kitchen. She took the biggest bowl possible, a big spoon, a box of Cookie Crisps, a carton of milk and poured it all in the bowl. She sat at the table and started to eat her cereal. A few minutes later, Conner walked into the kitchen.

"Good morning." Zoey said.

"Dude, that was like the best sleep I had in a while. That hammock is way comfortable." Conner said as he sat down at the table.

"Yeah, that's why my dad bought it." Zoey smiled.

"Your father is a wise man." Conner laughed.

"I guess. I have no idea what to do now. It is pretty early to do anything though." Zoey said. She looked around the house, just staring at random things. Conner snuck away her bowl of cereal and started to eat some of it. The house phone started to ring loudly. Zoey got up to answer it.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Zo. It's Jacky." Jacky said on the other line.

"Oh, hey chick. What's up?"

"Not much. Are you doing anything later on?"

"Um, not that I know of. Why?" Zoey turned around and sat on the counter top. She looked at Conner chugging down her cereal and smiled.

"Well everyone is heading over to Rocky's today. You should try to come."

"Ok. Seems like fun."

"Have you heard or seen Conner at all yet? I messaged him like ten times, but I got no answer."

"Actually, he's here eating my Cookie Crisps." Zoey said staring at Conner. He looked up, shrugged his shoulders and continued eating.

"Ha! That sucks. Wait, what is he doing there at 9:30 in the morning?"

"We both fell asleep outside last night."

"Well, well. What is with you two now? Ever since that kiss, you guys are extra close with each other."

"Nothing is going on, Jacky. Well, at least I think."

"Zo, you and Conner need to stop lying about your feelings towards each other. Everyone, and including Ms. Sanderson and both your families, can clearly see you two like each other. You should just tell him. And that time needs to be now. One of you needs to do something soon, otherwise, the rest of us will."

"It's just too risky to go that path. I mean…" Zoey paused for a minute. Conner got up and made he was towards the bathroom. As soon as he walked out the kitchen, Zoey went outside through the back door to talk.

"I mean, I love Conner to death and he's my best friend. We've been through so much and I just don't want to risk losing it all. Yeah, I would like to be with him sometime soon, but if it's never really going to happen, I don't want to break my back trying to make it work and then not be friends with him. It would be kind of awkward."

"Look Zoey, I've known you and Conner for at least four, five years and I know you both well enough that if anything like that ever happens and fails, that you two will recover from it like that and stay as close as you two are already, probably even closer if possible. Just listen to me, the way you two are acting now and not saying how you feel might make matters worse then it may seem."

Zoey started thinking a bit. "Maybe…"

"Well," Jacky sighed. "One of you have to do something before you miss the chance. Anyway, I have to go. I'll see you two at Rocky's later. Come around noon or 1."

"Ok. See ya." Zoey said. She hung up and sat down on the grass. She felt very confused and conflicted by her feelings. Seconds later, Jesse walked outside to see his sister sitting on the ground.

"What are you doing up so early?" Zoey asked.

"I got hungry." Jesse answered.

"Figures as much. Where's Conner?"

"He's in the living room watching TV." Zoey got up and walked back into the house. She hooked the phone on the receiver and walked into the living room. She took a seat in the armchair next to the couch.

"Who were you talking to on the phone?" he asked.

"Jacky. She just called to tell us to stop by Rocky's in a few hours." Zoey said as she stared at the TV.

"Oh…" Conner looked at her and saw that she was bothered with something. "Zo, you ok?"

"Huh?" Zoey said. "Oh yeah, I'm alright. Just thinking about a few things, that's all."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure." Conner got up. "Where are you going?"

"Home. I'm going to shower and do some stuff. What time are you planning on going to Rocky's?" he asked.

"Around noon maybe?"

"That works. I'll come back over a quarter to 12."

"Alright. See you in a bit."

"Yeah. See you later." Zoey smiled and waved. Conner walked to the door. He stopped and turned around to look at Zoey. He walked over to the armchair, bent down over it, and hugged her.

"Please feel better by the time I come back." Zoey looked at him and smiled. He smiled back and kissed her cheek. He walked back to the front door and headed home.

"Maybe I should tell him how I feel..." Zoey thought to herself. She laid back into the armchair and sighed.

"What's wrong with you?" Jesse said.

"Nothing is wrong." Zoey sneered.

"Why?"

"Ugh, just beat it squirt."

"I don't have to. It's my house too." Jesse said in a whining tone. He sat down and grabbed the remote off the coffee table.

"Fine, I'll go then." Zoey got up and walked upstairs. She walked down the hallway and went into the bathroom. She turned on the shower so the water could get warm. She went to her room to get her towel and shampoo. About 15 minutes later, Zoey left the bathroom and walked to her room in a robe.

"About time you came out of there, munchkin." Ben said.

"Jeez dad, I was only in there for what? 10 minutes?" Zoey said.

"Let's try more like 15." He said.

"Okay, 15. Can't a girl shower in her own house?" Zoey said. She walked into her room and closed the door. She took the towel off her head and shook it. She grabbed her hair, and started to comb it out. Once she was doing combing her hair, she got some clothes from her closet and got dressed. She was just about to blow dry her hair when her cell phone started to ring. She grabbed it off the dresser without looking to see who was calling.

"Hello?" Zoey said.

"Zoey! It's Maggie." a voice said on the other line.

"Gabby's here, too. You always forget to say who else is on the line, Maggie." Gabby said.

"Hey guys." Zoey said laughing.

"When are you coming to Rocky's? Everyone is like, here already." Gabby claimed.

"I had no idea you guys where going to be there so early. I thought it was a few people going to be there." Zoey answered.

"Nope. Jacky told me everyone was going to be there! She told DJ, then he told Jacky to call us two, Kenny, Lena, April, Ray, Damian, Michelle, Lara and Sean." Maggie said.

"So basically, EVERYONE will be here." Gabby added.

"Wow. Is the manager okay with a bunch of middle schoolers being there so early?" Zoey asked.

"Yeah. We talked to Martin." Gabby said.

"Well I'll be there soon. Conner is supposed to come over soon and then we'll be there." Zoey assured them.

"Ok then. Just make sure you two hurry up!" Maggie said.

"Alright Magz. Just calm down." Zoey said. "Bye guys."

"Bye Zo!" Maggie and Gabby said together. Zoey finally finished her hair minutes later and ran downstairs. She walked out and made her way down the street. She stopped at Conner's house and dialed his house number. Conner picked up after 5 rings.

"Hey." he said.

"Conner, are you ready yet?" Zoey asked.

"I can't go yet. My mom got me doing laundry."

"Are you serious? Everyone is expecting us to be there already."

"I know. Bryan just called me. Go without me and I'll meet up with you there soon."

"Are you sure? I could just wait for you, if you want."

"It's ok. Just go and I'll see you in a bit."

"Alright then. Bye." Zoey hung up and started to walk to Rocky's.

* * *

><p>10 minutes later, Zoey arrived at Rocky's. She walked in and began to look around for her friends. Martin, the shift manager, was behind the counter making smoothies. He noticed Zoey and smiled.<p>

"They're in the pool room, Zoey." He said.

"Thanks Martin." She said as she walked by. Zoey walked down the arcade hallway and went to the poolroom. She opened the door to the poolroom and everyone turned around to see who walked in.

"Zoey! You're here, FINALLY!" everyone screamed in happiness. Zoey laughed and walked in. John, Cindy, Damian, and Lena were playing an intense game of pool. Everyone else walked over to greet Zoey. They hugged, laughed, and talked a little while watching the pool game.

Zoey decided to sit with Jacky, DJ, Ellyn, Danny, Maggie, and Gabby while everyone else was in different areas in the room talking, dancing to the music, or watching the pool game.

"So, where's Conner?" Ellyn asked.

"He's home. His mom got a hold of him before he got the chance to leave the house. He had to do his laundry." Zoey told them.

"Is he still coming?" Gabby asked.

"He said he was. But knowing his mom, who knows if he will or not." Zoey guessed.

"That's true." Danny said.

"Well, hopefully he does come." Jacky said looking at Zoey grinning. Zoey just looked away. Everyone else noticed the two exchanging the weird faces.

"Is there anything that you two know that we don't?" Maggie asked. Zoey and Jacky looked at each other and shook their heads. Zoey got up and walked towards the pool table.

"Nope. Nothing." Jacky answered with a sigh. Everyone didn't seem too convinced though. Conner walked into the room about twenty minutes later and everyone started to yell in excitement.

"ABOUT TIME, CONNER!" the group of friends screamed. Conner walked around greeting everyone, then made his way over to DJ and the rest of the little group.

"Hey guys. I'm finally here." Conner said with a laugh.

"About time dude. What made your mom tell you to do laundry?" Danny asked.

"Good question, why don't you ask her." Conner answered. Everyone laughed.

"You really took forever though." Ellyn said.

"Only Conner takes that long to do laundry." Gabby said.

"Thanks, Gabby. Don't I feel special?" Conner looked around the room. "Where's Zoey?" No one knew where she disappeared to.

"Didn't she come here?" he asked.

"Yes she did, but she got up and left like fifteen, twenty minutes ago." Maggie said.

"Do any of you have any idea where she could have gone?" Conner asked. He became a little worried.

"Nope, no idea." everyone said while shaking their heads.

"I'll go look for her." Jacky said as she got up. "I'll be right back." She gave DJ a small kiss and walked out the poolroom. Jacky looked down both ways of the hallway and thought of where Zoey could be. She walked down the hallway, looking in each room for her friend.

* * *

><p>Back in the poolroom, everyone stood around the pool table where the same game was still going on. It became very intense and they were down to the 8 ball. Cindy was finding the right angle to shoot the ball in the correct hole she called.<p>

"Let's go, Cindy. We don't have all day you know." John said.

"Chill out, John. Can't you give my partner some time to think?" Lena said.

"Um...nope." John answered. Lena just rolled her eyes and Cindy went to shoot the 8 ball but missed.

"Ok Damian. Win it for the boys!" John cried.

"John, shut up dude." Damian said. Everyone else chuckled and John just shrugged his shoulders. Damian shot the 8 ball and it went in the top left pocket.

"About time that game ended." Sean said with relief.

"Right? I thought it would never end." Tony added on.

"Well since that game finished, why don't we start up another one?" Maria asked everyone.

"And what game would be what exactly Maria?" Joan asked.

"Truth or dare, of course." Carlos answered. Maria nodded in agreement.

"Eh, seems good." Tierra said. "Is anyone up for the game?"

Everyone looked at each other and nodded with a few responses of "yeah" and "yes".

"No. I think I'll pass on this one." DJ said with a smile on his face. Everyone took a glance at him and just laughed. As everyone was sitting in a circle, Randy walked over to DJ.

"You and Jacky can go make out in a corner or something." He said as he patted his back.

"Thank you very much." DJ said. The two laughed and Randy went to go sit in the circle. DJ sat down on a couch near the pool table to wait for Jacky to come back. Gabby walked over to the circle with a water bottle and took a seat between Conner and Kevin.

"Whoever the bottle lands on, they go first. Now you all know the rules, so there's no need to explain anything." Gabby said. She spun the bottle and landed on Cathy.

"Ok, my turn then." She said as she spun the bottle. The game has started. It landed on Jose. She started to smile.

"Ok Jose, truth or dare?"

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><p><strong>AN: Sorry for the long wait! I hope everyone is enjoying it so far. On to the next chapter!**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: I'm pretty mad. I fixed up this particular chapter last night. As I went to go click save, the next page never loaded up and I lost ALL the changes I made :( Now I can't remember what I did...gahhhh! Oh well...here's the next chapter. Enjoy!**

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><p>Back in the arcade area, Jacky continued to look for Zoey. She didn't find her in any of the other rooms so her last thoughts of where she would be were either in the computer lounge or the bathroom. She walked around and didn't find her near the computers or in the bathroom. She walked to the café area and saw Zoey sitting at a table reading a magazine and listening to music. Jacky ran over and took a seat at the table. Zoey was still reading the magazine and Jacky sighed. She grabbed her iPod and lowered the volume on it. Zoey looked up from the magazine and took off her earphones.<p>

"Hi." Jacky said.

"Hey." Zoey replied back.

"Were you sitting here the whole time?" Jacky asked.

Zoey looked back down at the magazine and started to read it again. "Yup."

"Are you planning to come back to the room?"

"I don't know yet."

Jacky sighed and got up. Zoey looked up at her. "Well, come back soon. Conner is here and he did ask about you." Jacky left and made her way to the poolroom. Zoey watched Jacky leave and just slammed her head on the table.

* * *

><p>When Jacky walked back into the poolroom, she saw that everyone started truth or dare already. She spotted DJ on a near by couch and sat down next to him.<p>

"Did you find her?" he asked.

"Yeah. She's in the café lounge."

"Oh, well, is she coming here or no?"

"I have no idea." Jacky laid her head against DJ and stared at the wall. DJ bent down and kissed her head.

"You want to leave and head to my place or somewhere else? We really don't have to stay here anymore." DJ said with a laugh.

"Yeah sure. Let's go by the lighthouse. I want Italian ice." Jacky got up and the couple waved good-bye to everyone as they left the poolroom.

They waved good-bye to Zoey when passing through the café lounge. Zoey smiled and waved back. Jacky stopped by the window where Zoey was sitting near and gestured to call later. Zoey just laughed and told her to go.

Zoey finally decided it was time to go back to the poolroom. Zoey put back the magazine, grabbed her iPod and bag, and then walked towards the poolroom. She walked in and Michelle was in the middle of asking Kenny a question for truth.

"Ok, do you like any girls in here?" she asked him. Lara and Gabby signaled Zoey to come next to them on the floor. Zoey put her bag down and walked over and plotted down on the floor. She saw Conner looking at her and she waved to him. He waved back and smiled.

"Well does used to like someone here count?" Kenny asked.

"Yeah I guess so." Michelle said.

"Ok then. I used to like Lena." He answered.

"Oh please Kenny. You know you still like me buddy." Lena shouted out.

"Are you kidding me? I used to Lena. Keywords 'used to.' Now it's all about Brittany Arnold." The other guys in the room agreed with Kenny.

"Yuck! Brittany Arnold?" Maggie said.

"Ok, you boys are so retarded." Lara said. "Brittany Arnold is so snobby and a freaking spoiled brat."

"She might be a brat and a snob, but she is so hot!" Kenny said.

"Brittany Arnold? Who's that?" Zoey asked.

"She's some girl from Perth Amboy who moved here. Kenny, Lara, and I know her from youth group." Maggie said.

"Are we going to meet her?" Maria asked.

"Maybe. Hopefully for Conner's party, if she can come. She's been in New York a lot with her dad." Kenny said. "She can come right, Conner?"

"Um, I guess so." He answered.

"Well anyway, Kenny it's your turn." Tierra said as she handed him the bottle.

"Alright." Kenny spun the bottle and it landed on Randy.

"Well, well, well." Kenny said as he started to grin big.

"Kevin, just give me a dare you moron." Randy said.

"Ok. I dare you to…" Kenny paused and looked around at everyone in the circle.

"I dare you to kiss Cathy." Everyone looked at Cathy and started to laugh.

"Yeah, I had to be the one to pick huh?" Cathy said.

"Uh huh. Let's go. Let's see some kissing." Cathy and Randy crawled to each other and sat in the middle of the circle.

"How long is this for?" Randy and Cathy asked.

"Um, I think it should be, five seconds. I'll let you both live." Kenny said. The two leaned towards each other and made out for the five seconds. Randy grabbed the bottle and spun it.

* * *

><p>The game went on for the rest of the night. April and Rayshawn left early to go see a movie. Damian left to go babysit his little sister. It was around 11 p.m. and the group had about a half hour more to play "truth or dare" until Rocky's had to close up for the night. They had a few make out sessions, some insane truth questions, more make out sessions, crazy dares like licking random things in the room, and one seven minutes in heaven dare. Zoey and Conner were the only two who didn't get dared to make out with each other. They were a little relieved about it, but for a strange reason, they were surprised that it never happened. It was the last spin of the game and it was Gabby's turn to spin. She spun the bottle and it landed on Conner.<p>

"Ok Conner, truth or dare?" she asked him.

"I think I'll pick truth." He answered. Everyone laughed.

"Ok then." Gabby looked over at Zoey, who was talking to Maggie, and then looked back at Conner. "For the some odd years that you and Zoey have been best friends, did you two ever kiss, or made out with each other? Whether if it was a dare or not?" Zoey's head shot up and she looked over at Conner quickly. Conner looked back at her and sighed.

"Well yeah we have. Like the other day when we were at the beach, John dared me to either make out with Zoey or de-bikini her." John started to laugh hysterically. Zoey got up and smacked John in the back of his head. Everyone laughed and Zoey went back to her seat. "I chose to make out with her."

"So you decided to kiss her instead of taking her top off? What made you come to that decision?" Gabby asked.

"Gabby, you already asked him the question so back off." Joan said.

"It's ok. I'll answer." Conner said.

"Ok then. So why did you choose to make out with Zoey?" Gabby asked once again.

"Oh god this really can't be happening." Zoey said to herself and shoved her face in her hands. Maggie hugged her.

"Well, I chose to kiss her because any dares that John comes up with always deals with something to do and the option of seeing girls boobs." Everyone laughed. John just bowed and thanked everyone. No one paid him any attention.

"First of all, Zo and I are best friends, and we have been for a really, really long time, and doing that to her seemed really disrespectful." While listening to what Conner was saying, Zoey picked her head up and looked over towards him. "And honestly, I don't think I would be able to look at her the same way if I saw her boobs." Conner laughed.

"Wow. You're a really good friend for that one Conner." Cindy said.

"I agree. I would definitely want to see some boobs." Mike said. Zoey just glared at him and Cindy smacked him.

"Of course you would." She said.

"Well, after the kiss, did it change anything with you two? Did you personally like it?" Gabby asked. Conner looked at Zoey and she just stared back.

"Um, I don't think anything has changed." Everyone sat in the circle in silence for a few minutes. Conner glanced over towards Zoey, but she just sat there, no movement; probably not even breathing either. Her cheeks were bright red and Conner just smiled weakly. Good thing he never answered the other question, otherwise Zoey would be a mess right about now.

"So, game over?" Bryan asked.

"Yeah." Everyone said as they were getting up. They grabbed their things and made their way to the lobby. Zoey stood outside in the hallway with Maggie and Conner was just walking out the room with Tony. Gabby came out and looked at Conner and Zoey.

"The fact that you two actually kissed is something that I really can't seem to believe yet. I mean you two are like brother and sister for crying out loud. Well I will let you guys know this though. If we ever play truth or dare again soon, I am going to dare you two to do it. I really need to see it for myself. Believe me." She said as she walked away.

"Well, seems like you two are in for it." Maggie said.

"Yeah, don't remind me." Conner groaned.

"For the long that I've known that girl, she will do anything to get her way." Zoey said.

"Well to tell the truth you guys, I really haven't imagined you two actually kissing neither." Tony said.

"Yeah same here." Maggie also said. "That one dare would be interesting to see."

"Well, keep wishing because I don't think it will happen again." Zoey said as she walked away to go outside.

"Eh, that's what she says. Gabby will find a way." Tony said. He sighed and walked outside with Maggie and Conner. Everyone stood outside and talked while waiting for rides to come, there were cars beeping horns, and a group of guys playing hacky sack.

Tony saw his mom's car pull up. He waved good-bye to Conner and Maggie, and then walked to the car. Everyone left Rocky's after 20 minutes. Maggie and Conner were the last two there, sitting on the sidewalk. Martin was still inside cleaning up the place.

"Do you think Zo might be mad at me?" Conner asked.

"Mad? Mad at what?" Maggie asked back.

"Me? Gabby?" He asked sadly.

"Why would she be mad at you? Or Gabby? Gabby had the right to ask any question and that just happened to be what she was thinking of."

"I know...but, I don't think she wanted the whole world to know that we...kissed."

"If she's mad, then she will get over it. I mean, everyone was bound to find out sooner or later. And the fact that you really have a lot of respect for her is the sweetest thing ever. Zoey shouldn't be that mad."

"You know how she is though."

"Yeah I know...well if I were you, I wouldn't worry as much."

"Yeah…" Conner sighed and got up. "I'm going to go. I'm really tired."

"Ok. I guess I'll head back in and wait for my mom to come. See you later." Maggie said.

"See ya." Conner gave Maggie a hug and started to walk home. Throughout the whole walk all he could think about was the day of the kiss, Zoey, and tonight. He just wanted to go straight home and crash in his bed, hoping for the thoughts to go away somehow.

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><p><strong>AN: Watching Hairspray now on ABC Family. Man, this weekend has been great with all these movies I've been watching. I'm a happy camper! ^_^**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Sorry for the belated update! This week has been hectic for me. I already had this chapter ready to go, but then my internet connection failed as I was saving it and I lost all of my changes :( And I've been sick all week too. Stupid sinus infections! Anyhoo, here's chapter 6. It's Conner's birthday!**

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><p>Tuesday, June 20th...today is Conner's birthday! It was around 11 am and Conner's mom was downstairs making breakfast. His dad was sitting in the backyard enjoying the sun light.<p>

Conner smelt something cooking from downstairs and the scent woke him up.

"Ah nothing beats a good breakfast made by mom." He said as he jumped out of bed. He walked down the stairs and walked into the kitchen.

"Happy birthday, Conner!" Harry said as he walked into the kitchen. He gave his boy a tight hug.

"Thanks, pop." Conner took a seat at the table, awaiting his birthday breakfast.

"Happy birthday, sweetheart." Angela said kissing Conner's forehead.

"Thanks, mom. So what's for breakfast? I'm starving."

"I'm making some bacon, eggs, and pancakes." Angela said.

"That sounds good for me. Did anyone call yet?"

"Just about everyone has called." Harry chuckled. "After all these years you've been with every last kid from pre-school, you would think that they would at least call around noon instead of 8 in the morning."

"They can't help it, dad. You know how we are when it comes to birthdays. Any one in particular that wanted me to call them back?" Conner asked.

"Zoey and Kenny I believe. You should give them a call after breakfast." Harry said. He grabbed a newspaper and sat back in his chair to read.

"I wonder what they want." Conner thought to himself.

"Ok gentlemen, breakfast is ready." Angela sat down the food on the table and everyone dug in. It was the best breakfast Conner has eaten in a while.

After finishing his breakfast, Conner ran upstairs to his room. He walked over to his desk and grabbed his phone. He picked it up and dialed Kenny's number first. The phone started to ring and Kenny picked up.

"Hello?"

"Hey Kenny, it's Conner."

"Hey man. Happy birthday."

"Thanks. What's up?"

"Not much. It's still ok for me to bring Brittany to the party, right?"

"Yeah, definitely man. It's all good."

"Ok cool. I have to go so I'll you later. Peace."

"Peace." Conner hung up and then dialed Zoey's cell number. The phone started to ring but there was no answer. So Conner dialed her house number. The phone rang and still no answer.

"Oh well. I guess I'll see her later." When Conner looked out the window, he saw some people outside in the backyard. He ran downstairs to the kitchen and stood at the glass door.

He walked out the door and to see his parents talking to Zoey, Danny, Ellyn, Jacky, and DJ. Ellyn looked over at Conner and waved. Everyone else turned around and saw Conner walking over. Zoey was the first to run up to him. She hugged him tightly.

"Happy birthday, buddy!" She said excitedly.

"Thanks Zo." He said. They kept their embrace and Zoey gave him a kiss on the cheek. Everyone else gave him a hug and wished him a happy birthday.

"Well, we better get the place set up for the party." Danny said.

"Yeah that would be a good idea." Conner smiled.

All the kids grabbed the party bags and went into the kitchen. Ellyn and DJ stayed in the kitchen to set up the snacks and soda while the other 4 were in the living room putting up the decorations and blowing up balloons. About an hour later, the group of friends finished decorating Conner's house and it was just in time for the party to begin.

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><p>Everybody came over and the party was going great so far. Kenny came with Brittany and everyone seemed to love her. Even though she and Kenny were somewhat together, she seemed to have an eye on Conner. The party started to simmer down around 4 pm. At this point, they decided to play the famous truth or dare game.<p>

Everyone gathered around a bonfire in Conner's backyard as they played truth or dare for two hours. Gabby tried her best to think of a way to dare Conner and Zoey to kiss, but nothing worked thanks to Brittany. She was all over Conner. Conner couldn't help but feel excited about having a girl all to himself for a day.

After the big game, the party came to an end and everyone left the house, except for DJ, Jacky, Brittany, Kenny and Zoey. They decided to sit in Conner's livingroom to watch some TV.

"Dude, this was one wicked party." Kenny said.

"Yeah I definitely agree. I can't wait till your birthday next week, Zoey." Jacky said to her as she walked out from the kitchen. She took a seat next to Conner on the couch.

"Me neither. I'm really hyped for it." Zoey smiled.

"Hey Kenny," Brittany whispered.

"Yeah?" he asked.

"Can we go, please?" she asked.

"Sure. Hey Con, we're going to go." Kenny said as he got up. He and Brittany walked to the door with Conner trailing behind.

"Thanks for coming, you two. It was nice to meet you, Brittany." Conner said as he gave her a hug.

"Yeah...same here. You have my number, so just call me whenever you want to hang out." Brittany said with a smile.

"No problem. Kenny, I'll see you tomorrow." Conner said smacking Kenny's shoulder.

"Yeah dude. See you tomorrow." Brittany winked at Conner and both her and Kenny left the house.

"Well...the party is officially over." Conner said as he closed the door. Zoey walked up and gave him a hug.

"What was that for?" he asked.

"I'm saying good-bye." Zoey laughed.

"Aw, you have to go already?" Conner asked with disappointment.

"Yeah, thanks to 'mi madre'. I'll be over first thing in the morning though." Zoey said.

"Okay sounds good to me." Conner chuckled. He gave her one last hug. "Thanks for a great party, Zo. I enjoyed it a lot."

"Me too. I hope my birthday turns out the same way. Once again, happy birthday, Conner." Zoey said.

"Gracias amigo." Conner said.

"I'm not a guy, Conner." she smacked his arm.

"I'm kidding." Zoey shook her head and gave him a kiss on the cheek. She walked out the door and made her way down the street to her house.

"Wait Zoey!" Conner yelled. She turned around and looked back at Conner.

"What is it?" she asked.

Conner paused and shook his head. "Never mind...I forgot what I was going to say. Night, Zo." Zoey laughed and continued her walk. Conner watched her walked home and frowned.

DJ and Jacky walked up and looked at Conner. "What's wrong with you?" Jacky asked.

"Nothing." Conner replied. Jacky shrugged her shoulders and glanced over at DJ. Seconds later, a car pulled up in front of Conner's house honking the car horn.

"Well, looks like my mom is here. I'll see you two tomorrow. I had a great time, Conner." Jacky said as she gave him a hug. Then she walked over to DJ and kissed him good-bye.

"What's with the face, Conner?" DJ asked.

"What face? I didn't make any faces." Conner denied. He closed the door and sat down on the sofa.

"So, you just decided to get a sad look on your face just because you wanted to?" There was no response. "Oh come on. I know you. You were upset that Zoey left early, weren't you?"

Conner sighed deeply. "Why don't you just tell her how you feel already?" DJ asked.

"It's not that easy. It might have been for you with Jacky, but it's a whole different thing with me."

"You really need to tell her how you feel. I'm getting sick of you two flirting a lot and not do anything about it."

"What makes you think that Zoey likes me?"

"It's pretty easy to see."

"That's what they all say." Conner sighed.

"Then maybe you should do something about it." DJ said. Conner walked over to the staircase and sat on the bottom step. DJ's cell phone started ringing. He took it out his pocket to see who was calling and it turned out to be his dad.

"Well my dad is here. I'll see you later, dude." DJ said.

"Alright man. See you." DJ walked out the house and closed the door. Conner just felt lost. He got up and went to his room. He sat down at his computer and opened up his AIM buddy list. He took off his away message and scrolled down the list to see if Zoey was online.

"Do I really want to tell her how I actually feel?" he thought to himself.

He clicked on her screen name and a window popped up. The cursor was blinking and Conner sat there staring at the keyboard. He closed the window and sighed. Just as he was getting up, a chat room invitation window popped up. It was from Kenny. He sat back down and accepted it. In the chat room, there was Kenny, Rayshawn, Gabby, and April. For a couple of minutes, he talked to his four friends in the chat room about his party and how well it went. A minute later, another window popped up and it was from someone with the screen name"XbigbabybeeX".

**RAD CT90: hey, who is this?**

_XbigbabybeeX: it's Brittany. forgot me already?_

**RAD CT90: oh...no way. I just didn't know you had my screen name**

_XbigbabybeeX: yeah I got it from Kenny. you don't mind right?_

**RAD CT90: no I don't. um…so…what's up?**

Conner and Brittany talked online for the next couple of hours and he seemed to like her more and more as they talked nonstop. At that moment, Conner decided to forget everything that has happened in the last three days and enjoy the moment he's in now.

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><p><strong>AN: Sorry for the chapter being so...boring...and short. The next few chapters will get better, I promise! And I'll put up a new chapter in the morning! As for now, I'm taking my sick self to bed.**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Another short chapter, but no worries. The fun only beginnings in this chapter. Just wait...:) Enjoy!**

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><p>Four days passed since Conner's birthday. Conner has been distant from his friends. No one has heard from him, or seen him. Whenever someone got a chance to say "hi" to Conner, he would always say that he's in a hurry to get someone. Zoey became a little worried about her best friend. Conner hasn't talked to Zoey since his birthday. Something was up, but she couldn't figure out what it was.<p>

Zoey sat on her front porch with Maggie, Gabby, Jacky and Lena, enjoying some fresh lemonade and muffins Zoey's mom made for them.

"Zo, I can't believe that your birthday is on Tuesday! It's so exciting!" Gabby squealed in excitement.

"Sí, yo no espero hasta mis cumpleaños." Zoey said with a smile.

"What?" Gabby asked with confusion.

"I said 'yeah, can't wait till my birthday'. And you took the same spanish class as me, Gab." Zoey laughed.

"So that doesn't mean anything. I took the class too and I learned absolutely nothing. Besides, you speak Spanish already." Lena said as all the girls laughed.

"Alright you guys, on a serious note, let's just talk about the major issue here." Maggie said.

"And what is that exactly, Maggie?" Zoey asked.

Maggie looked at the other girls, then looked back at her. "What's up with you and Conner?" she asked.

"Did you tell him you liked him?" Gabby asked.

"Nothing and no." Zoey said defensively. "I haven't spoke to him since his birthday. I don't know what's wrong with him."

"Zoey, you have to tell him you like him! Both of you are going to end up together eventually!" Jacky said eagerly.

"Are you even sure that he likes me?" Zoey asked.

"Well from what I see, I sort of doubt it." Lena said.

"Are you mad, Lena?" Gabby said.

"Yeah are you? What makes you say that?" Jacky said.

"Just look over there." Lena said as she pointed towards Conner's house. The five girls turned their heads and saw Conner sitting on his porch with a girl.

"Is that who I think it is?" Zoey said.

"Oh yeah it is." Maggie said.

"Ms. Brittany Arnold is over Conner's house, and Conner is actually hanging out with her, WILLINGLY!" Gabby yelled.

"Is that guy on something? Who in their right mind, besides Kenny, would even be within 5 feet of her?" Lena said.

"I don't know. You don't think they actually go out or anything, do you?" Zoey asked hesitantly.

"I highly doubt it. There's no way they could." Maggie said.

"I hope not because I seriously do not want to even see her again." Zoey firmly said.

"Why's that?" Jacky asked.

"She was being a total jerk to me at Conner's party. Out of everybody, she chooses me. I swear I wanted to beat the crap out of her." Zoey said balling her fists.

"No worries, Zo. I don't think we will see her anytime soon. I doubt Kenny would bring her to the party since he hasn't asked you if he could." Maggie said.

"That's true." she said quietly. She couldn't stop staring over at Conner's house. The fact that he was with Brittany killed her inside. She sighed and tuned into the girls talking about her birthday party.

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><p>The next few days went by and now it was a bright, sunny Monday afternoon. Zoey decided to hang at the beach to catch some waves. She sat on her surfboard thinking of that day her and Conner shared their first kiss with each other. She couldn't help but smile about it. Staring into the water, Zoey spaced out for a while, thinking aimlessly about Conner. Next thing you know, a splash of water hit her back and instantly woke up from her daydream. She spun around and saw Conner sitting on his surfboard laughing hysterically.<p>

"You should see the look on your face right now!" he said laughing.

"What ever happened to just saying 'hi'?" Zoey asked as she splashed Conner back with water.

"Too overrated." He replied. Zoey turned around and glared back into the ocean. Conner made his way next to Zoey and turned around on his surfboard so he could look at her.

"Are you ok? You seem a little…upset…tense…" Conner stopped and stared at Zoey who was staring back at him.

"I'm fine, Conner. It's nothing, I promise." Zoey assured him.

Conner knew she was lying and Zoey knew he knew. She stared into his eyes and smiled. Conner smiled back. Zoey turned back to the water and looked at it for a few seconds. Then she looked up to check out the waves. She breathed in deeply, and sighed. Conner sat his hand on her leg and looked at her. She sat her hand on his and looked back at him.

"Are you sure? I know that you're lying. Something is definitely bothering you."

"Well, something is bothering me, but it's nothing too serious. It's just a little thing I can handle on my own. Trust me, I'm fine. No worries." Zoey smiled weakly. She patted his hand.

"I'll be back. I'm going to go catch this wave." She said. She paddled away and Conner just sat on his board, watching her go.

A few minutes later, Zoey met up with Conner again. She jumped off her surf board into the water and came up to the surface seconds later.

"Having fun?" Conner said with a chuckle.

"I guess you can say that." Zoey said. She shook her head to get water on Conner. He laughed and jumped into the water with her.

"Ok happy now? I'm in the water." He said with a laugh.

"Oh yes, very happy." Zoey said as she splashed him. Conner shook his head and stared at her. Zoey swam to her surfboard and started swimming away to shore. Conner grinned and grabbed his surfboard. Then he made his way behind Zoey. They reached the shore and sat next to where Zoey had her stuff lying on the sand.

"You are one evil chick." Conner said.

"And you act like you're the good one. Yeah, please man." Zoey giggled.

"So, excited for tomorrow?" Conner asked as he laid back into the sand.

"You have no idea. I seriously cannot wait till tomorrow." Zoey said as she watched the waves crash onto the shore. The sun was starting to set and the sky had the colors of a picture of a sunset being painted. Zoey took in a deep breath of the ocean air and sighed.

"You are definitely coming tomorrow right?" Zoey asked looking down at Conner.

"No doubt about it." He replied as he sat up. "There's no way I'm missing your birthday."

"Good. I'm just making sure." Zoey smiled. Conner smiled back. Zoey reached over to her bag and grabbed her camera. She turned it on and leaned over towards Conner.

"Smile." She said. Conner leaned over and kissed her cheek as she smiled. She clicked the button and the flash went off. She took a look at the picture and laughed. The face Conner made was pretty hysterical.

"What a nut." She said looking at the picture.

"Eh, who cares? I think I look great. Don't you?" he asked looking at the picture.

"Of course you do, Conner." Zoey giggled. She stood up and stretched.

"So what time is it?" she asked Conner.

"Uh…" Conner glanced over at his cell phone sitting on Zoey's bag. "It's 7:30."

"Hmm…pretty late to be at the beach, huh?"

"Not really, but I do have to get moving."

"Are you kidding? Where are you going, mister?" Zoey was a little curious.

"DJ's." Conner answered.

"Oh." Zoey grabbed her bag and helped Conner up. She gave him his phone and smiled.

"Why thank you." He gave her a really big, tight hug.

"Ok Conner. I do want to live to at least see a day of being 14." Zoey laughed.

"Oh alright. Fine then." Conner chuckled. Zoey gave Conner a hug and kissed his cheek.

"See you tomorrow." She said as she grabbed her surfboard.

"Yup. You know it, babe." Conner said with a big grin. Zoey just shook her head and laughed. She waved good-bye and made her way to the boardwalk. Conner sighed deeply and fell onto the sand. Then he got up and grabbed his surfboard. He made his way to the boardwalk. Minutes later, he ran into Brittany.

"Oh hey, Brittany." He said.

"Hi there, Conner. What are you doing here?" she asked.

"I was surfing."

"Really? That's cool. Were you here by yourself?"

"Oh no. Zoey was here a few minutes ago. Didn't you see her walking the boardwalk?"

"Actually, I don't recall seeing her."

"Ah I see."

"Yeah, afraid so. So…" Brittany hesitated for a few seconds, "What are you doing tomorrow?"

"I'm going to Zoey's tomorrow. It's her birthday and she's having a party. Why?"

"Oh…no reason really. I just figured that maybe you would like to hang out."

"Well, maybe we can before her party. It doesn't start till 3. Oh if you want to, you can come. I don't think she would mind."

"Oh, I don't know. We didn't get along too well at your party."

"No worries. I think Kenny would probably take you to the party tomorrow if I didn't ask you to already." Conner chuckled.

"That's true." Brittany giggled. "Ok then. I'll go to the party with you as long as you hang out with me."

"You've got yourself a deal, Ms. Arnold." Conner said. Brittany blushed and he smiled. "Come on, I'll walk you home." He said.

"Thanks." Brittany said with a smile. Conner and Brittany walked down the boardwalk to her house, just talking the night away.

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><p><strong>AN: Uh oh...did Conner make the right choice about inviting Brittany to Zoey's party? How will Zoey and the rest of their friends take the news? Did you know Zoey spoke Spanish? Oh, the mystery...**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Sorry for the delayed updates! Being sick with a sinus infection sucks. But here we are, Zoey's 14th birthday! Will things run smoothly for our lovely friends? Or drop down the drain? Let's see...;)**

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><p>The week has passed by quickly and now it's Zoey's 14 birthday. She had a big birthday breakfast with her family to start off the morning, and talked to Kaitlyn for about two hours about her trip in Italy. Now there's nothing to do but throw the most amazing party.<p>

It's now around 2:30 and Zoey was just finishing putting up balloons in the kitchen. Jacky, DJ, Ellyn, Tony, Danny, and Maggie all walked in with boxes full of decorations.

"Happy birthday, Zoey!" they screamed together.

"Hey guys!" Zoey said with a big smile on her face. She gave her friends big hugs and led them outside with the boxes.

"We came early to help out with the decorating." Maggie claimed.

"Thanks. I really need the help." Zoey laughed. "You can just sit the boxes on the table over there and we can finish decorating the inside of the house. Outside is a whole other story."

"No problemo." They all said. They sat the boxes on the table and went inside to finish the decorating.

The little gang of friends finished decorating Zoey's house from top to bottom within the 30 minutes they had before the party began.

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><p>About 3 hours into the party, Zoey was outside talking to Maggie, Gabby and Jacky while they watched some of the boys play soccer. Everyone else was either near the kitchen door waiting for food or dancing to the music.<p>

"It's really odd that Conner isn't here yet." Gabby said.

"I know. He said he was going to be here first thing in the morning, but I haven't gotten a phone call, text or anything from him." Zoey replied sadly.

"Did you call his house to see where he is?" Jacky asked.

"Yeah, but his mom just said his room was empty and his dad never saw him leave the house."

"That's weird. Conner wouldn't just disappear like that." Jacky said. The other girls nodded in agreement. Zoey sighed and continued to watch the soccer game.

After another hour passed, the party started to calm down a little. Conner was still nowhere to be found. Everyone sat around the fire pit in the middle of Zoey's backyard. Her dad started a fire and supplied everyone with ingredients to make s'mores. The big group of friends shared great memories about 7th grade and what they expect in 8th grade. Zoey was a little upset Conner never came to her party after he promised her he would.

It's now around 8:10 and the party become more energetic than ever. Zoey sat inside the house calling Conner's cell phone over and over again, but failed every time. Jacky walked in and sat next to her at the counter.

"Still no luck?" she asked. Zoey shook her head.

"That's crazy. We're like already through most of the party and he hasn't called or anything." Jacky said in disgust.

"I know…" Zoey sighed. A few seconds later, Maggie ran into the house. Jacky and Zoey became a little worried, thinking something went wrong.

"Zo…" she hesitated, "Conner…is finally here." Zoey got up and ran outside.

"About time he got here." Jacky said following behind Maggie and Zoey.

Everyone outside greeted Conner happily, relieved to finally see him arrive. Conner glanced over at Zoey and walked up to her slowly.

"I'm so sorry that I'm really, really late. I've been busy all day and totally lost track of time." He said as he hugged her.

"Are you kidding me?" Zoey yelled as she pushed him away. She looked into his eyes and could see that he was sincerely sorry. She sighed and gave him a hug. "It's alright. At least you're here now."

Zoey looked over his shoulder and saw Brittany Arnold walking in through the back gate. Zoey broke the hug and everyone else whispered quietly. She looked at Conner and then walked over to Brittany.

"Um Brittany, hi. I'm sorry to burst your bubble, but I never invited you here. It's kind of rude to come to someone's party without an invite." Zoey started off.

"Well sorry to burst _your_ bubble, but I was invited here actually." She replied.

"Oh really? By whom exactly?"

"Conner." She said as she pointed at him. Conner looked away, not baring to see Zoey's reaction.

"Don't tell me you were out with that…with her the whole day?" Zoey asked as she started to walk over to Conner.

"Ok…I won't…" Conner nervously said.

"Conner, you promised you would be here!" Zoey became furious at her best friend. She felt like her heart has been ripped out and stomped on. How could he do that to her?

"He did and he's here now. So get over yourself." Brittany snapped at her. Zoey turned around towards Brittany.

"Listen Barbie, no one asked you to say anything." Jacky snapped back, defending her friend.

"Well, apparently I seem to be a whole lot more important than Miss Brooks, considering he's been with me all day." Brittany smiled. She loved how angry Zoey was getting.

Zoey couldn't stand the sound of Brittany's voice anymore. She glanced back over to Conner. "I can't believe you…"

"I'm sorry, Zoey." Conner said. He gulped and held her hand. "I'm really sorry."

"You're sorry?" Zoey pulled her hand away and took a step backwards. "After what happened at your party, you still decided to bring her here." Zoey yelled.

"I know, I know. I'm sorry ok?"

"Um, Conner can we get going? Please?" Brittany whined. As much as she loved bothering Zoey, she couldn't stand being there anymore.

Zoey looked over at Brittany and looked back at Conner. "You're not staying?" she asked.

"I am." Conner answered quickly. Brittany walked over and grabbed Conner's arm.

"He's not." Brittany said. She pushed Conner in front of her and started walking. As she passed by Zoey, she kicked her in the back of her knee really hard, laughed, and kept walking. Everyone gasped as Zoey fell to the floor. Ellyn, Jacky, and DJ ran over to help her up.

"Zo, are you ok?" DJ asked.

"Oh yes, I'm just dandy." Zoey said. She followed Brittany and Conner out to the front of the house and everyone else followed behind. Zoey ran up behind Brittany and Conner with flames flying out her ears. Everyone in the backyard ran out following her.

"Oh dear lord, this is not good..." Jacky said nervously. She knew Zoey was furious now. DJ and Ellyn grabbed her arm and they ran after their friend.

"What makes you think that you can just come to my house and think you have some kind of control?" she asked furiously.

"Hmm let's see, a whole lot." Brittany said as she laughed. "Let's go, Conner."

"Brittany, I think it's best I should stay..." Conner suggested quietly.

"Oh really?" Brittany asked.

She turned around to see Zoey and her big parade of friends standing behind her. She walked up to Zoey and punched her in the face. Zoey fell over, accidentally kicking Brittany in face in the process. Jacky and Ellyn ran over to Zoey to make sure she was okay. All of the kids in the background gasped and exchanged comments, not knowing what will happen next. When Zoey finally managed to sit up, she saw that Brittany was now very angry. She held her hand to her nose, noticing the blood that was dripping from it.

"Brittany...I am really sorry...I didn't mean to..." That was all Zoey managed to get out before Brittany grabbed a bunch of rocks. She started to walk over in Zoey's direction, with the angriest look on her face.

"Oh crap." Zoey muttered. She got up and ran down the street with Brittany and everyone else following behind.

"Zoey!" Conner yelled.

"Run, Zo! RUN!" some of the kids yelled. Brittany began to launch the rocks at Zoey, hoping to hit her in the head. With every throw, she misses.

Brittany stopped and picked up a few rocks and kept running. Everyone else ran behind trying to stop Brittany from getting Zoey. Brittany launched a few rocks at Zoey, but she continues to miss with each throw. Zoey managed to catch a few rocks and launched them right back. One hit Brittany in the shoulder. Brittany threw one at her and hit Zoey in the head. The rock threw Zoey off, causing her to run into a fence. Everyone stopped short.

"That had to hurt." Maggie said. Brittany caught up with Zoey and started punching her. Everyone else finally caught up to the girls and tried to break up the fight. Zoey kicked Brittany again, giving her the chance to break free. She got up and hopped over the fence to a random yard. Some of the girls tried to keep Brittany down, but she got up and hopped over too. She began to walk towards Zoey, who was slowly walking backwards away from her.

"You know, things would be better if you were gone!" Brittany yelled. She ran towards Zoey at full speed.

"Zo, watch out! There's a pool behind you!" Danny screamed.

Zoey stopped to find the pool behind her. Randy and Tierra hopped over to get a hold of Brittany. However, she broke free and threw the biggest rock she could find at Zoey's head. Zoey fell to the ground, knocked out. Brittany punched Zoey in the face one more time, letting her frustration out. Brittany pushed her into the pool.

Everyone on the other side of the fenced froze instantly. Danny, DJ, and Mike hopped over the fence quickly and ran to the pool, jumping in after Zoey. The rest of the kids ran to the nearest gate to get into the backyard.

Gabby and Cindy ran back to Zoey's house to get her parents. April called 9-1-1. Brittany froze in place as well. She couldn't believe what she did. She made a break for it seconds after. Lena, Damian, Rayshawn and Maria ran after her, hoping to catch her.

The boys got Zoey out the pool and laid her on the grass. The 3 neighbors that lived in the house looked outside to find a bunch of kids. As they were about to go outside and yell, they noticed Zoey on the grass with blood gushing out of her head. One person called 9-1-1 as the two other people ran outside to help. Conner performed CPR on Zoey, but he couldn't get a pulse. Everyone started panicking.

"Come on, Zo. Wake up. Please...WAKE UP!" Conner began screaming as he tapped her face, hoping to wake her up. Gabby and Cindy came back with Zoey's parents. They ran over to find their daughter soaked and covered in blood.

The ambulance came 7 minutes later and took Zoey to the emergency room. Zoey's parents went back to the house to get their car and made their way to the hospital. All of the kids decided to run down the streets, following behind the ambulance. Gabby called the 4 friends that went after Brittany and told them to meet up at the emergency room.

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><p><strong>AN: Interesting chapter, no? Brittany is once crazy chick if you ask me. Let's pray that Zoey will be okay...stay tuned!**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: THE WAIT IS FINALLY OVER! We begin the marching band season! But first, we check on Zoey's condition!**

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><p>All of Zoey's friends sat in the emergency with her family while waiting for an update on Zoey. Hours passed by and it was now midnight. Still, there was no word from the doctors. Everyone sat around worried, thinking something bad had happened, but they didn't lose hope.<p>

20 minutes later, a doctor came out and walked over to the group of people. "Benjamin and Susan Rivera?" Zoey's parents stood up slowly. The doctor glanced at the large group of kids, noticing their worried faces, then back at Zoey's parents.

"Mr. and Mrs. Rivera, I have some good news and some bad news…" he started off saying. Everyone moved to the edge of their chairs eager to hear the news.

"The bad news is that due to the injury to Zoey's head, we almost lost her." Everyone gasped. Susan started crying. "She managed to get a very bad gash on her head from the pool as she fell in. However, the good news is that we were able to keep her alive. We had to place her in a medical induced coma. She will be unconscious for the next couple of days. She also sprained her wrist and broke her left ankle. She also has a couple of bruises too. But other than that, Zoey will be fine." Everyone sighed in relief to hear that she will be ok.

"I wish I could have everyone come in and see her, but there are a lot of you. We can only have her family come in at this time." the doctor said. He nodded to Zoey's parents and walked away. Ben rubbed Susan's back and looked at Zoey's friends.

"Well guys, tomorrow you can come back and visit Zoey. You all should start heading home." Ben said. Everyone nodded in agreement and called their parents for rides. They said good-bye to Zoey's parents and little brother and left. Zoey's parents and Jesse went into Zoey's room and sat by her side for the rest of the night.

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><p>Four weeks has passed since the birthday incident. Zoey was back at home and she was doing a lot better. Her wrist and ankle has healed, but she was ordered to stay in bed and rest. Once her marching band rehearsals begin next week, she will be good to go. A couple of her friends came by to visit often to check up on her. Zoey still hasn't forgiven Brittany for what she's done. Damian, Rayshawn, Maria, and Lena never found Brittany that night. Conner said she went to New York with her dad and she wasn't coming back. Everyone was still a little suspicious about Conner's relationship with Brittany, but at least none of them would have to deal with her ever again.<p>

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><p>The week has flown by quickly and today begins the first day of band camp. The marching band had a few rehearsals prior to this day to learn the field show music. They needed to have the first 2 songs memorized. Today, the band will start rehearsing on the football field preparing for the football game in September.<p>

Zoey sat in the high school band room with Jacky, Gabby, DJ, and Danny. They are very excited to start the season, since it was everyone's first year except for Zoey and Jacky. They have been in the marching band since the summer of their 5th grade year. Since Jacky's parents were really good friends with Mr. Rush, the high school band director, and part of the band parents association, Zoey and Jacky used to go to all the football games and competitions with them. Jacky's older brother, Michael, was in it at the time. After going to all the games and competitions, they became interested in doing it. Zoey and Jacky assisted with the pit crew their first year, then they did guard the second year. But this year, they're marching with their flutes.

The 5 friends sat together as they waited for getting the word to move out to the football field. One of the senior trumpet players came in and gave everyone the heads up to move out. As everyone in the band gathered their instruments and music, their drum major Alana McKenzie, who is going to be a junior in September, came in furiously looking for Mr. Rush.

"Alana, what's wrong?" Jacky asked.

"The field is a mess. There's no way we can start charting today." She replied.

"Are you kidding?" Zoey asked.

"I had Tommy walked around the field and he said that it's in no condition to march on. The JV football team totally destroyed it." She said. Tommy Miller was the other drum major and he is going to be a senior.

"You've got to be joking." Gabby said. Mr. Rush came walking out of his office and noticed the small group of students.

"Something wrong here, guys?" he asked.

"The field is destroyed." Danny said.

"Destroyed?" Mr. Rush asked puzzled.

"Yeah, follow me." Alana said. Everyone followed the drum major to the field. Once they reached the field where the rest of the band was, Mr. Rush walked onto the field and looked at. It was, indeed, destroyed.

"Alana, who was using the field today?" he asked.

"I saw the JV football team on the field earlier." She answered as she walked onto the field.

"Anybody else?" he asked again.

"No sir. They were the only team using the field today." Tommy answered.

"Great. This is just great. We have to start charting the first song today." Mr. Rush said to himself. Tommy and Alana looked at each other, not knowing what to do.

"Ok um…Alana, get everyone back into the band room and have…" Mr. Rush looked through the group of band kids to look for Zoey, "Rivera help you get them settled." He finished as he tossed her the keys.

"No problem." She said as she walked over to the band.

"Tommy, you and Jacky have to go find Mr. Evans and get him here now." Tommy nodded and ran off with Jacky to find the athletic director. Mr. Rush grunted and just looked at the field, which was now a complete mess.

Back in the band room, everyone was walking around and talking. Alana stood by Mr. Rush's desk with Zoey. She picked up the attendance book and handed it to Zoey.

"Take the attendance while I get them through warm ups." She said. Zoey nodded and grabbed a pencil off the desk.

"Alright guys, it's now 5:00. Get in your seats now or you're marked late." She screamed. Everyone took a seat and got ready to play through warm ups. Zoey took the attendance quickly...everyone was here. She sat the book on the desk and took her seat in the flute section. After warm ups, Alana took the band through the first song of their "Godzilla Eats Las Vegas" field show. Tommy then came running into the band room, with Jacky trailing behind. Alana stopped the band to talk to Tommy.

"Hang tight, you guys." She turned towards Tommy, "What's wrong?" she asked.

"Mr. Rush needs the two of us outside." He answered.

"What about them?" she asked pointing to the band.

"He still wants them to rehearse song one a couple of times...and song two."

"And who's suppose to conduct if we're both gone?"

"He wants Zoey and Jacky to do it." Both drum majors looked over to the two flutes practicing their music. They turned back to look at each other.

"He wants them two? Why not two seniors or something?" Alana asked.

"I don't know. I guess we can get two seniors to be in charge." Tommy said as Alana nodded. Mr. Rush walked into the band room and saw Alana and Tommy talking by the podium.

"Is there a problem?" he asked joining the conversation.

"Um…" Tommy mumbled. Alana shook her head.

"Ok then. Rivera and Penta, come up here please." Mr. Rush commanded. Zoey and Jacky sat their flutes on the chair and walked over to Mr. Rush.

"Yes?" they said.

"I need you two to guide the band through the first two songs, got it?" he asked as he looked at the two students.

"Uh sure Mr. Rush. No biggie." Zoey said. Mr. Rush signaled the two drum majors out into the hallway.

"Ok, so should we start up song one again?" Jacky asked.

"I guess so." Zoey clapped her hands to get the band's attention.

"Alright everyone, Mr. Rush wants us to run through songs one and two." Jacky said.

"Where's Alana and Tommy?" a sophomore trombone asked.

"He needed to see them both with Mr. Evans about the field, I guess." Zoey answered unsure. "Ok so let's go. Instruments up." The band followed the command and was set to go. Jacky watched Zoey as she counted off the tempo and conducted the band through the song.

On the way to the field, Alana and Tommy were a little bothered that Mr. Rush put the two girls in charge of the band till they got back. Alana ran up to Mr. Rush and tapped him on the shoulder. He stopped to see what she wanted.

"Um Mr. Rush, I know this has nothing to do with the field situation, but why did you leave Zoey and Jacky in charge? They're only 8th graders and there are definitely more responsible people in the band you could have picked to leave in charge." She said.

"I left those two in charge because they are two of the most responsible people I have in the band." He answered.

"But they're only 8th graders, sir." Tommy said.

"Yes, they're only 8th graders, but those two are more mature then some of the seniors in the band. Actually, they are considered seniors of the band. If I'm not mistaken Tommy, they started a year after you did."

"Oh yeah, I remember them being there sophomore year." Tommy added.

"Wait, they started as 6th graders when Tommy was a sophomore?" Alana asked a little surprised.

"Well, their summer before 6th grade, but yes."

"How is that possible? I know you're allowed to join in 8th grade, but 6th grade?"

"I had Jacky's brother in band back then. They were at all of the rehearsals, games and competition. I decided to let them join the pit crew. The second year they did guard, I believe." Mr. Rush answered.

"So, they must of gotten their varsity letters last year then?" Alana asked once again.

"Yup. They get their 2nd year varisty pins this year." Mr. Rush said.

"Oh wow. And this is only my second year in band." Alana said.

"Next year, I suppose they're going to try out for drum majors. I know for a fact that Zoey is interested in it. The girl has skills." Mr. Rush said. He continued to walk to the field.

"What does he mean by 'skills'?" Alana was very puzzled at this point.

"During my sophomore year game at one of our home games, he showed Zoey how to conduct a couple of stand songs. He had her conduct them with me. She wasn't half bad. So the rest of the season, he had her conduct in the stands. She got pretty good."

"Is that why he let her conduct in the stands too last year?"

"Yeah I guess. Hey, it gave me and Lenny a break." Tommy laughed.

"Well this isn't good. Next year is going to be my last year. I can't have her and Jacky beat me in auditions. I have to be the head drum major."

"Well you should do some practicing. If Zoey does decide to try out and she gets it, she's going to be one of the best drum majors this band ever had." Tommy said. He met up with Mr. Rush and Mr. Evans on the field. Alana was stumped.

8 p.,. rolled around and everyone sat in their sections waiting to be dismissed. Mr. Rush came into the band room after talking to Mr. Evans and stood at his podium.

"Thanks for working indoors today. This whole field situation has me heated. I don't know how the rehearsal went because I was outside." Mr. Rush stopped and looked over at Jacky and Zoey. "Did it go ok?"

"Yeah it did. No problems at all." Zoey and Jacky said.

"Ok good. I'm just sorry for all this. I mean, I know you guys didn't have me or your drum majors to work with you, but thank you for being disciplined enough to go through it all with those two girls. Now there's no guarantee that the field will be fixed by next Monday, so it's most likely that we'll be indoors until next Wednesday or Thursday. That's about it. You guys can go." Mr. Rush turned around towards his drum majors.

He noticed Zoey and Jacky up by the door and called them down. They stood next to Alana and Tommy. He looked at the two girls.

"Zoey and Jacky, I want to make you two my assistant drum majors." Zoey and Jacky looked at each other and smiled. Alana didn't seem to be too happy.

"Now you two basically have the same duties as those two so with you four helping me out, there shouldn't be any problems and I can have the four of you doing something. Tommy will take care of warms, Alana on attendance, Jacky on breathing, and Zoey...you're one of my best marchers, so I'll have you do that."

"No problem." They all said.

"Great, thanks for the help you four. I'll see you all on Monday." Mr. Rush went to his office to check his messages.

"See you guys later." Jacky said. She and Zoey grabbed their bags and flutes and left the band room. Alana was just disgusted.

"Assistant drum majors? What the heck was he thinking?" she said frustrated.

"Don't stress out on it, Alana. He clearly made the right choice by picking them both, whether we like it or not." Tommy said defensively.

"Oh great, you're on his side too?" Alana grabbed her bag and left. Tommy shook his head and grabbed his book and car keys. This will be a long summer.

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><p><strong>AN: Ah...I remember those days...my school's football field used to be horrible! Then we got a turf field, which became more annoying...stupid black beads...SO! Hope you liked it :] more rehearsals are on the way!**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Another day of good ol' marching band. At this rehearsal, the band will learn a thing or two about indoor band competitions (I totally just wrote this into my story...so enjoy!) Reviews are welcomed and gladly appreciated!**

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><p>Another day means another day of marching band. Three days has passed by and things are moving very slow. All of the holes on the football were patched up with new grass patches, but it will be about another three days until the band can take the field. Mr. Rush took this as the perfect opportunity to teach the band a little about indoor competitions.<p>

Mr. Rush showed up at the high school around 3:30, prepping for today's rehearsal. He wanted to make sure that the stage in the auditorium was perfect fiction and ready to go. He also made sure that the house was cleaned so his pit was able to play. He stood on stage, glancing at the emptiness before him. He was anxious to see how the band would react to performing their show on stage. The sound in the auditorium will be totally different from what they are used to.

"Mr. Rush?" a voice spoked. He turned around to see his two Drum Majors walking down the aisle towards the stage.

"Ah, Alana and Tommy. I'm glad you got my message." he said as he met them downstage.

"No problem. Why exactly are we here? Rehearsal doesn't start till 5." Alana replied.

"I asked you two here," he began as he jumped off the stage, "because I wanted the two of you to fix up the stage for tonight's rehearsal."

"So we're going to rehearse on the stage tonight?" Tommy asked.

"Why are we rehearsing in here?" Alana chimed in next. Mr. Rush gave his drum majors a small smile and headed for the door.

"How about you let me worry about that, huh?" Mr. Rush walked out the auditorium, leaving Alana and Tommy alone to clean the stage.

"He seriously wants us to clean this mess?" Alana asked quietly. There was garbage everywhere and the stage looks like it hasn't been cleaned in weeks.

"Come on, Alana. I'll take the floors." Tommy walked off looking for the nearest broom and dust mop. Alana groaned and climbed onto the stage to look for a trash can backstage.

Zoey, Jacky, and DJ arrived at the high school ten minutes later. As they roamed through the halls, they spotted Tommy walking out of the janitor's closet with a large broom. He spotted the trio and smiled.

"Hey guys." he greeted.

"Hi Tommy." the trio replied in unison.

"Why are you here so early?"

"We had nothing else to do." Jacky said.

"So we decided to come here and hang out." DJ added.

"Ah, I see...spoken like true band geeks. There's nothing to do so why not hang out in the band room." Tommy chuckled.

"Tommy," Zoey began, "why do you have a broom?"

"Oh..." Tommy forgot that he was hold the big broom. "I have to go sweep the stage."

"For what?" Jacky asked with concern.

"I don't know...all I know is Mr. Rush called me and Alana in early and he wanted us to clean the stage."

"Hmm, looks like we're rehearsing inside today." Zoey said.

"Yeah, I guess so. Well, I'll see you guys in a few." Tommy raised the broom above his head. "I'm off!"

"I wonder why we're not going outside today..." Jacky pondered.

"Maybe the field isn't ready?" DJ suggested. "He did say the other day that people from the athletic office had to place some grass patches to fill up the holes on the field."

"That could be it. Doesn't it take a while for the patches to settle?" Zoey asked.

"Yeah like a week or so." DJ answered. "Let's head to the band room. I need Mr. Rush to help me with song 1."

The trio continued their walk through the halls to the band room.

* * *

><p>It is now 5 p.m., which means it's time to start rehearsal. The band was settled in the band room, sitting in their designated sections. The attendance has already been taken and the band began to play through their warm ups. Mr. Rush walked out his office and gestured to the drum majors to stop playing. They cut the band off and waited for the next move.<p>

"Hello everyone. I hope you're ready for today's rehearsal." Mr. Rush began to make his way to the front of the room. He stood in between his Drum Majors and smiled. "We're going to learn something new today. Although we won't be out on the field till next week, we're still going to do some stuff with song one. Now I need you to grab your music, instruments, and follow me to the auditorium. The guard will be rehearsing in the gym with Mrs. Carey." He grabbed his score off the podium and led the band to the auditorium.

Minutes later, the band stood in their rehearsal block on stage. The pit stayed in the band room to work on their music for the first half of rehearsal. Everyone became very confused as to why they were in the auditorium. The students talked amongst each other, waiting for the next thing to do. Tommy and Alana finally walked in the auditorium with their drum major podiums. Mr. Rush pointed to the aisles on each side, giving them the indication to set the podiums there. He began to clap to catch the band's attention. Once he had silence, he turned to the band and gestured them to sit.

"Alright guys, you're probably wondering why we're inside instead of being on the football field." A few students shouted out responses. "We can't use the field yet because the grass patches need a week to sit. So we will be good to go. But for right now, we are going to work on our strategies for indoor marching band competitions." Clapping and whistling broke out through the band.

"So everyone stand up and fall to the ready." He commanded. The students stood up with the instruments and instantly fell to "the ready" position, with their feet spread slightly apart and heads hanging down.

"Detail attend hut!" Mr. Rush shouted. The whole band shot to the "attention" position. Their feet came together, with their arms shooting up with their instruments. Each student stood tall with their shoulders back, chins up, chests out, and stomachs in.

"Now before we start anything, we're going to run through the first two songs. I want you to get a feel of the acoustics in here. The music will sound very different, compared to being outside or in the band room. If something sounds too loud, bring it down a notch. If something sounds too quiet, don't worry about it. We're not trying to fight for sound in here." The band director turned around and nodded his head for the drum majors to begin the show. He walked off stage to sit in the back of the auditorium. The band played through the songs twice. Mr. Rush wanted to make sure they were comfortable with playing in the auditorium.

"Okay so playing in an indoor competition may look easier than playing in an outdoor competition, but it is actually a little more challenging. Tommy, care to explain why?"

"Uh sure." Tommy stood up on his podium and faced the band. "With indoor competitions, there's a lot of things you have to think about. You have to think about dynamics, tempo, and definitely posture. With being indoors, you don't want the sound to overpower the room. You have to be mindful with certain dynamic markings, especially with certain parts of the song being either too loud or too soft. If the sound overpowers the room, it also affects the tempo. The acoustics in most auditoriums aren't good, so the sound between the winds and drums will bounce off the wall. You have to, I repeat, you have to make sure you are counting at all times. Along with staying in time and watching us up at the podium. We stay in sync with the drum captain so if you keep your eyes on us, we will keep you in tempo."

"And you don't want to look like crap either. You may not be moving around to different spots on the stage, but people can easy point out with someone isn't marching in step with the people around them. And if you look sloppy, you will get noticed. Don't think that being in a block can hide you." Alana added.

"Thanks for that note, Alana." Mr. Rush said. He sighed and continued on. "Our second competition is an indoor one at Seven Stars High School. I wanted to introduce you to this early so we are fully prepared once school starts up. For the next hour or so, we're going to continue to play through songs one and two. We'll add in some visual effects as well. We'll take a 20 minute break, and then we'll go into the gym to do the same thing. For the last hour of the rehearsal, we'll practice with the guard in the gym. Let's get moving people."

The hours flew by and the band managed to get a lot done. Some of the students helped the pit bring back their equipment and the guard had help putting their flags away. After a long rehearsal, Mr. Rush released the students from the band room. It was a long day, but the rest of the week will be longer as they struggle through without the use of the football field.

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><p><strong>AN: Oh marching band...I miss it so much. Indoor competitions were a lot of fun. And very easy to win ;)**


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: Happy Easter everyone! Hope you had a lovely day :) I sure did. The weather was absolutely beautiful today. Here's chapter 11!**

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><p>It was a warm Sunday afternoon in August. The sun was shining bright. Zoey was outside lying on the grass, staring up at the sky. Susan walked outside to the front yard with the house phone and looks around for Zoey. She saw Jesse running to the house with two of his friends.<p>

"Jess have you seen your sister?" she asked.

"She's...over...there" He said with his mouth full of potato chips.

"What?" she asked. Jesse pointed towards the lawn.

"Over there…" he replied.

"Oh, gracias sweetie." Jesse and his friends ran inside. Susan walked down the porch steps.

"Zoey, come here sweetie." She said. Zoey sat up and walked over to her mom.

"Yeah mom?"

"Phone call for you." Susan handed Zoey the phone and walked back into the house.

"Uh hello?" she said.

"Hey Zo, how are you?" Kaitlyn asked.

"Oh hey! I'm great. How's Italy?"

"It has been so much fun so far. Terrence's family is so nice."

"That's always a good quality of a man." Zoey laughed.

"Yeah of course. Anyway, I heard what happened with you. Are you feeling any better?"

"I guess. I mean my ankle hurts at random times, and most of the bruises went away."

"Are you marching? You really shouldn't be marching if your ankle is still hurting."

"Oh no, I'm not. Mr. Rush knows about what happened. My mom told him what happened. He said I can just sit out at rehearsals if I have to. Just join in whenever I feel up to it."

"Alright, that's good. How did this mess start with you and Brittany?"

"I don't even know the girl that well. I heard about her that one day at Rocky's and I met her on Conner's birthday. The whole time at the party she was harassing me. Conner came late to my party and it turns out that he was with her the whole day. Next thing you know, I get hit in the head with this big rock and I wake up in the hospital weeks later. I had no idea she pushed me into a pool."

"That's just horrible."

"Tell me about it...things around here is just weird. Shoot, things at band is weird."

"Don't worry, Zo. The summer is almost over. And I'll be back in two weeks."

"That's good. I seriously can't wait for you to come back. I miss you."

"Same here, sweetie. And I miss you too. Well I've got to go. See you soon."

"Ok, enjoy the rest of your vacation." Zoey hung up and sat the phone on the grass. She laid back and stared at the sky again. Conner walked outside his house and saw Zoey on her lawn. He jumped off the porch steps and walked over to her house. He took a seat next her.

"Hey, haven't seen you around lately." Conner said.

"Yeah, marching band tends to do that sometimes." Zoey laughed.

"How is that going? How far are you guys into charting the show?"

"Well, it was put on a delay thanks to the JV football team destroying the field. So now we're a little behind."

"Oh, that really bites."

"Yeah...it sucks. Next week, we're just going to chart the first song, praying we get all of it done within the week."

"That's a lot to do."

"I know. We have to know all four songs too. Oh well, it's all fun though."

"Yeah, can't go wrong with that." Silence broke out between the duo. Zoey glared at the ground thinking of what to say next.

"Oh...I was also made one of the assistant drum majors."

"Wow really? Congrats." Conner punched Zoey's arm lightly.

"Yeah, both me and Jacky. And I was put in charge of marching."

"Exciting. You'll do a great job. I've seen you march before and you're like murder on feet." Conner laughed.

"I just talked to Katie too...right before you got here. She's coming back in two weeks."

"Oh, that's great. I bet you're happy."

"I am. I've been pretty lonely lately."

Conner stood up and stretched. "Well, I'll see you later. I'm heading to John's."

"Have fun. IM me later."

"No problem." Conner waved good-bye and walked down the street. Zoey sighed and got up. She went back in the house for the rest of the day.

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><p>The next two weeks passed by and everyone was excited to wait for the arrival of Kaitlyn and Terrance. One thing they were wondering about was if they got engaged or married. Zoey knows they didn't. Otherwise Kaitlyn would have told her.<p>

Zoey was sitting at Rocky's drinking a banana and strawberry smoothie. She was on the computers checking some e-mail. Kevin ran by Rocky's and stopped instantly. He saw Zoey inside through the windows. He ran in and caught Zoey's attention.

"Hey Kev, are you ok?" she asked.

"Zo…everyone's been looking for you. Isn't your phone on?"

"Yeah it is." Zoey took out her phone from her bag and opened it. "But, it's on vibrate…oops. So what's the emergency?"

"Ms. Sanderson just got back. She's home now."

"Really? Wait…is everyone at her house?"

"Yeah, so come on."

"Ok let's go." Zoey signed off the computer and grabbed her bag and smoothie. She and Kevin left Rocky's and started running down the street, but Zoey stopped.

"What's wrong?" Kevin asked.

"I have to run home and get the packets for her. I'll meet you there." Zoey turned around the opposite way and took off home while Kevin ran to Kaitlyn's house.

Meanwhile at Kaitlyn's house, all of her students decided to ask questions about her trip to Italy. "You guys, settle down. I can only handle one question at a time." Kaitlyn laughed.

"Alright guys, shut up already." John said. "So, did you go to Rome?"

"Yes I did. It was really pretty. I enjoyed it." Kaitlyn answered.

"What about the coliseum? Did you and Mr. Smith visit there?" Joan eagerly asked.

"Yup, we went there too."

"Man, it seems like you had a lot of fun on the trip." Tierra said.

"Oh yes, I did. It was real nice to visit another country. Italy is so pretty. I would really love to go back again." Kaitlyn said.

"I bet you will once you marry Mr. Smith." Randy said. Kaitlyn just looked at Randy and laughed nervously while Conner smacked Randy's arm.

"Wow...nice way to demand her to marry the guy." Ellyn said.

"No, it's ok, Ellyn." Kaitlyn said.

"So, do you plan on it?" Bryan asked.

"Plan on what?"

"Marrying Mr. Smith?" Maria asked.

"Oh, I don't know about that yet…"

"Come on Maria. She and Mr. Smith just got together in what, May? April maybe?" Cathy said.

"Yeah, who gets married just after three months of being together?" Jose added.

"They had an on and off thing happening between those two months anyway, so you can't really count it as three months." Cindy said.

"Sure you can. I mean, they were together and when they broke up it only lasted like what a day or two?" Randy said.

"So that doesn't mean anything." Tierra said. The kids started a whole argument and Kaitlyn's face started to turn red.

"Uh kids," everyone stopped and looked at their teacher, "I know I can't get into your little predicament, but it is concerning me you know." She said.

"Oh yeah…sorry about that, Ms. S." the students said together.

"It's alright." She chuckled a little. "Anyway to answer your question, I do plan on getting married, but just not necessarily to Mr. Smith or anytime soon. Even if he does pop the question."

"Oh, well that's all you had to say." Bryan said.

"I tried, but you know things just happen." Kaitlyn sighed and the group of kids started talking among themselves. Kevin then walked in and closed the door. He took a seat in the living room with the group.

"Any luck finding Zoey?" Kaitlyn asked. Everyone stopped talking to listen in.

"I did find her at Rocky's. She ran home to get the packets for you. I'm assuming that she is coming here." Kevin answered.

"Ok so that's good. Well guys, it was nice seeing you all again. Until Zoey comes, I'm just going to unpack my things. And hopefully I'll see you soon or when school starts."

"Alright," Everyone said in unison as they got up. Kaitlyn stood at the door hugging her students good-bye.

"Bye, Ms. Sanderson."

"Nice to have you back, Ms. S."

"See you soon." Ms. Sanderson waved good-bye and closed the door. She sighed deeply and made her way upstairs to her room to unpack her things. The group of kids walked down the street to the park. Once they reached the park, some went to the hang around the playground and some went to the basketball courts.

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><p>Meanwhile at Zoey's house, she was breaking her room apart looking for the packets she needed to give to Kaitlyn. Ten minutes later, she finally found them and ran out the house. She ran down the street, passed Rocky's and the park her friends were at. She saw them, but didn't bother to stop. She had to get to Kaitlyn's house. She really needed to see a friendly face. She made it to her house and nearly collapsed on the ground. She stumbled up the porch steps and took in deep breaths, trying to get air in her lungs again.<p>

"Man…I haven't run that much or that fast since April…" she said to her self deeply. She knocked on the door. A couple of minutes went by and she knocked again. There was still no answer.

"Her car is here…why isn't she answering?" Zoey shrugged her shoulders and took a seat on the steps. Three minutes went by and still no answer. Zoey took out her cell phone and dialed Kaitlyn's house number. It rang five times before the answering machine picked up. She called her cell phone and there was no luck. She walked over to the door and knocked again. Once again, there was no answer. Zoey sighed and sat back down on the steps. A couple of minutes later, Kaitlyn opened the door and saw Zoey sitting on the porch.

"Well it's nice to see you in one shape, my dear." She said. Zoey turned around to see Kaitlyn standing in the doorway.

"It was also nice of you to leave me out here for the past ten minutes or so." Zoey laughed.

"Hey, I try my best." Zoey got up and gave Kaitlyn a big hug. "Sorry about that though."

"It's alright…at least you ended up opening the door." Zoey smiled. They both went inside to the living room. "Oh, here are the packets. I almost lost the,m but I found them." Zoey said handing the packets to Kaitlyn.

"Good thing you didn't. Otherwise, we would have been screwed." Kaitlyn said sitting the packets on the coffee table. She sat next to Zoey. "So, how was your summer so far?"

"Eh…it got a little better since you're back, but it could be better. How about you? How was the rest of your trip in Italy?"

"It was really fun. I'm glad I went. It was a great experience."

"That's good. I always wanted to go there."

"Well next time Terrance goes and he invites me, I'll talk to him about letting you come too."

"Sweet, thanks." Zoey sighed.

"I will tell you about my trip later, but about this Brittany girl…tell me exactly what happened."

"It's too much of a long story. I don't even want to talk about her anymore…"

"Fair enough, I guess. Are you feeling better?"

"Um, yeah for the most part. All of my bruises finally went away."

"That's nice to hear. How's band going?"

"Band has been pretty good. Besides being behind on charting, things have been going well. I'm one of the assistant drum majors."

"Excellent! That's real good news. Congrats, Zo."

"Thanks. Too bad the drum majors aren't too up for it. Well, one of them."

"Hey, don't worry about them. They're probably just jealous that an 8th grade was appointed leadership close to them."

"I've been in band as longer than the second drum major and the other one was in band one year longer than me, but he graduates this year."

"Oh yeah. I forgot about that. Since 5th grade right?"

"Yeah...lucky me."

"Are you trying out for drum major for the next season?"

"Yeah I think so. If I do get it, I'll be the first freshman drum major Mr. Rush ever had."

"Hey, that's a nice thing to start."

"I could have tried out this year, but I figured since he has the majority of the band in the class it would be pretty bad to just have one of the drum majors there."

"Do you think you would have gotten it if you tried out?"

"Without a doubt. I mean Alana is great and all, but even Mr. Rush himself said that I would have beaten her badly, maybe Tommy too."

"Wow, you must have really good skills."

"Yeah. Just enough to build up for next June."

"You'll get it. No doubt about it."

"Yeah I can feel it."

"I have some pictures from the trip. You want to go take a look?"

"Yeah definitely." Both Zoey and Kaitlyn got up and walked upstairs to her room. "So, about that story of yours…mind telling me about it?"

"I will just give me a sec." Kaitlyn laughed.

"And make sure you tell me every little detail."

"Are you sure you want that?"

"Wait…" Zoey stopped walking and looked at Kaitlyn, "what are you saying?" Kaitlyn laughed and went into her room.

"Aw man, now hold on." Zoey said running after her. "What exactly happened?"

"Are you sure you want to know EVERY detail?" Kaitlyn said with a smile. Zoey stared at her and then shook her head.

"Hmm...maybe some things are better off not said." she laughed. Zoey spent the rest of the day at Kaitlyn's house getting re-acquanted with her close friend. She was happy to finally have her back.

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><p><strong>Next up, another band rehearsal! <strong>


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: Hello all! Hope you're enjoying the story so far...if not, please tell me! Haha. I want to make it fun to read. Reviews are helpful so feel free to leave one! Now on to another day of band rehearsal!**

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><p>A couple of days has passed since Kaitlyn's arrival from Italy. Zoey has been busy with spending time with her and marching band, of course. Mr. Rush worked the band very hard the past couple of rehearsals, but they're up to schedule now. Last thing they have to do is finish charting up to the third song in the show. It's around 6:40, and the band is working hard on the field. Mr. Rush had them run through songs 1 and 2 multiple times, making sure everything was clean and correct. Alana was still having trouble with the whole 'Zoey and Jacky being assistant drum majors' thing, but she never let it get to the best of her...or at least she tried not to. Throughout the rehearsal so far, she's been giving attitude to Mr. Rush, the rest of the staff, Tommy, and the whole band.<p>

"1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, plus 1!" Mr. Rush shouted through his blow horn. The band instantly stopped when Tommy cut them off from the podium. Mr. Rush signaled Alana and the assistant band director, Eric Perez, to walk around the field. He wanted to make sure that every student had their left foot pointing in the next direction they have to move on the field. Mr. Perez gave a thumbs up, indicating his side of the field is okay. Mr. Rush glanced over to Alana and gave her a puzzled look. She shook her head as she put up three fingers, indicating that 3 students from the low brass line had either misplaced their foot or just used the wrong foot completely.

"Alright, looks like we have to run this whole section again." he yelled. The band groaned in unison as they broke from attention. "Go back to the beginning of this section, starting from measure 42."

"Do you want them to play this time?" Tommy asked.

"No, I want them to learn how to think ahead." Mr. Rush said to his drum major. He turned towards the band and raised his blow horn. "Let's go people! I don't have all night. Maybe if you learned where you go on the field, we wouldn't be stuck doing the same thing over and over again." He nodded to Tommy, giving him the 'okay' to start again. Tommy clapped his hands four times. The band snapped to attention, waiting to begin the same section again. Tommy looked over to Alana and she nodded her head. Tommy began to count off the tempo, with Alana mimicking his every move. He counted the band in and they began marching.

"I want to hear you counting girls!" the guard instructor, Marlene Carey, shouted. Mr. Rush walked along the sideline watching the band move from one chart to another. Seconds later, he raised his blow horn again.

"1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, plus 1!" he shouted. The band stopped once Tommy gave the cut off. Mr. Perez and Alana took their places on the field again, walking around to see if everyone ended the same way.

Alana walked over to the high woodwind line towards the back of the field. She walked along the clarinet line and everyone was in ordered. She approached the flute line next. There was two freshmen girls with the left foot placed forward while everyone else had theirs either pointing to the left or right. Zoey eyeballed her, wondering what she was trying to do. Jacky noticed Zoey looking over at Alana and the two of them exchanged looks. They knew Alana was up to no good.

"Mr. Rush," Alana began, "these two girls have their foots pointing forward. I don't think that's the direction they are suppose to go."

"Oh come on, Alana!" Jacky yelled as she broke from attention. "They're right. They move forward."

"Says who? It looks completely wrong!" Alana snapped.

Mr. Rush sighed deeply and raised his blow horn, once again. "Alright, let's just fix this. Everyone get to your ending position for this section." The band stood at attention. "We're go into the next 2 charts." He counted the band through the two charts and then stopped the band in place. The two freshmen girls moved forward connecting with the drum line while the rest of the flutes moved in different directions making small shapes of their own.

"See? It doesn't look right at all!" Alana began.

"Alana, we ran this song so many times. Those girls are in the right spots." a senior flute said. The two girls began to argue and Mr. Rush's patience got shorter and shorter.

"TO THE READY!" Mr. Rush screamed into the blow horn. The band instantly fell to position and Alana walked off the field. Mr. Rush sighed again and ran his fingers through his hair. "Detail attend hut!"

"Hut!" the band shouted together. Mr. Rush gestured Tommy to get down from the podium. He climbed up and sat down. He stared down at his watch. It read 8:05 p.m.

"At ease." he commanded. The band broke freely from attention, being able to relax in place. Some students took a seat on the grass while the rest stood. "Now, I've worked you really hard today. It'll only get easier once each of you commit to learning where you need to go on the field! Today was merely a day to clean up and work on adding in stuff, which we'll have to do in about 2 days. So right now, take a 10 minute break and we'll come back to end rehearsal with a march off."

The students sighed and cheered with joy, excited to finally have their first break of the night. Some of the boys from the trumpet section and drum line got together to play a quick game of football.

"Zo, this is ridiculous." Jacky said as she and Zoey walked over to the sideline.

"What's so ridiculous? Rush drilling us on the same sections throughout rehearsal or Alana trying to find a way to trash the flutes?" Zoey asked.

"Both. I was referring to Alana though. She's really starting to annoy me."

"You're not alone on that boat." Tommy said, joining the duo. "Try working side by side with her. I sometimes question how she managed to get this position with that personality of hers."

"I think whoever judged her just felt sorry, honestly." Jacky stated. Zoey laughed and sighed. She walked over to her bag and grabbed a big binder. She placed her flute on top of the bag and grabbed Jacky's arm.

"We're going to go 'fix' this, so our section doesn't look bad. We worked hard on helping those girls. I'm not letting their hard work go to waste." Zoey said with concern. Jacky gave Tommy a weak smile and walked off with Zoey. They called the flute section together so they can run the same section of charts one by one. Tommy walked over to the podium to join the staff and their conversation.

"Kevin, these kids are working hard. Do you honestly think some of them aren't trying their best?" Ms. Carey asked.

"I know they are. However, I can't afford any one to just goof off and let the hard work shoot down a drain. Why can't they just take responsibility?" Mr. Rush groaned.

"Well if it helps," Tommy began as he entered the conversation, "the flutes are working on the same section now." He and the staff turned around to see Zoey drilling the section chart by chart, slowly going over each count.

"See that? That's what I need from this band. Leadership." Mr. Rush stated.

"Sir if I may?" Tommy insisted. Mr. Rush nodded. "The band is perfectly find when it comes to leadership and taking responsibility. On behalf of the flutes, the two girls are correct with the spots they are moving to. I don't know what Alana may have saw, but she was wrong. I looked at the pictures in my book and everything looked right."

"Are they really? Let me see your book, Tommy." Mr. Rush demanded. Tommy grabbed his binder from the side of the podium and opened it to the last chart of the section they ran minutes before. Mr. Rush looked at it and indeed, the freshmen flutes were correct. They are the only two that move out of the high woodwind line and join the drum line for the rest of the song. He gave the book back to Tommy and gave him a soft nod.

"Looks like they know what they're doing, huh?" Mr. Perez asked.

"Yeah. This has to be Alana's anger coming out then." He sighed. He looked over to Alana, who was now talking to Tommy on the football field.

"Anger? What anger?" Ms. Carey asked.

"The anger of me making Jacky and Zoey the assistant drum majors." Mr. Rush responded.

"Oh come on...seriously?" Mr. Perez asked. Mr. Rush nodded with a sigh. He couldn't believe his drum major would hold on to a grudge as small as that. There was nothing he could do though. He glanced down at his watch and the 10 minute break was up. He grabbed the whistle around his neck and blew into it. The band made their way off the field and stood along the sideline.

"Alright, so now it's time for a march off!" he shouted with happiness. Some students clapped while others grunted in disappointment. "Let's go people! Get into a block. Tommy, go and adjust the spacing." Tommy nodded and ran onto the field with the band. Zoey stood on the sideline with Alana by her side. She glared at Zoey with disgust.

"You know, you really should be out there." she said.

"So should you. We both know you're not a strong marcher, Alana." Zoey replied back. Alana huffed and walked towards the podium.

Mr. Rush turned around to the two girls on the sideline and waved. "Girls, come out and join the band. You too, Tommy."

The trio took a spot in the middle of the block and waited for directions.

"Tonight, I have both the drum majors and Zoey marching with you. I want to test how well each and every one of my students can march. Of course, the drum majors should be able to march extremely well. However, we shall see...to the ready!" The band fell to the starting position, awaiting for the next command.

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><p><strong>Ah, nothing beats a good ol' march off, huh? Sorry if this chapter seems short. It's only beginning! We shall start with the march off in the next chapter!<strong>


	13. Quick Author Update!

Quick Update:

Hey guys! I just want to say that I am very sorry for not updating! I have been incredibly busy these past couple of weeks. With the semester ending, trying to find another job, plus a serious case of writer's block...things have been hectic. But it's all okay now...it's now summer and I'm on break which means I'm definitely gonna get back into the writing game. So I shall continue on with "Summer Fun or Not?" and "Cue Lights, Sound, Actors & Love". Thank you for all that has taken the time out to read both stories! There might not be reviews, but at least with the high counts each story has, I know you must like something in them ha-ha. So on that note, I'm just going to end my little update and continue the stories. Please continue to read and please, please, please write some reviews! If there's something you like, let me know. If there's something you don't like, let me know. If you're just annoyed with the damn thing, please let me know! I'm dying for the feedback so I can make the use of your time! Thanks again everyone! :)

-Jazzy Fe


	14. Chapter 13

**A/N: Hey everyone! Sorry again for the very, very, very, VERY, VERY late update. And sorry that this chapter seems a little short...writer's block can do that to ya haha. And there's just so much you can do with a march off. Well anyway, enjoy!**

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><p>Mr. Rush sat on the podium, looking down at his band. Every student had their heads down while his staff stood on the football field. They gave him a nod, indicating they're ready to begin the march off. He nodded back and raised his blow horn to his mouth. He glanced at each student once more then smiled softly.<p>

"To the ready," he commanded once again. Some of the students adjusted their posture and feet again. Zoey closed her eyes shut. She took a deep breath. She stood in the middle between Gabby and DJ. Jacky was a few lines ahead with Alana next to her, and Tommy was in the back of the block with Danny.

"I must win...I must win this march off...must show Rush and these drum majors that I can handle this..." Zoey told herself over and over again. She is very determined to win.

Alana turned around to the back of the block towards Tommy, then back to the ground in front of her. "I have to win this," she told herself.

Mr. Rush stood on the podium and raised the blow horn to his mouth once again. He gives his staff another nod and smiled. "Detail attend hut!" he shouted through the blow horn. The band completed the command within a few seconds. He looked down at the band, thinking of what to call next. He then figured taking the band through a box drill will help set the mood better. He called the band through a series of right faces, light faces, forward marches, and backward marches. Everyone in the band stuck with the commands very well. Now it was time to get creative and test the students' skills.

"Detail halt!" he commanded. The band came to a stop, responding with "1, 2." He smiled as he raised the blow horn once more. "Okay guys, that was just a warm up. Now it's time for the real fun. March time harsh!" He began to clap his hands together to indicate the tempo. The students moved their feet to the tempo Mr. Rush has established.

Left, right, left right...1, 2, 1, 2...Mr. Rush got off the podium and stood along the sideline. He raised his blow horn as Mr. Horn kept a steady tempo on the cow bell. "Forward harsh!" The band started to march forward. Mr. Rush saw about two students on the outside of the block out of step. He walked up to them and tapped their shoulders, indicating they were out.

"Left slide harsh!" The band shifted the bottom half of their bodies and started marching to the left. "Backward harsh!" The band shifted their bottoms again and began marching backwards on their toes. Some students stumbled during the transition and they were out. "Forward harsh! Right oblique harsh!" A few more students stumbled through the transition and made their way to the sideline. The remaining students in the band continued to march in a diagonal.

"Forward harsh!" The band shifted to the sideline and continued on. "Left slide harsh! Backwards harsh!" The remaining members continued marching backwards on their toes. Mr. Rush thought of something slick and softly smiled.

"Forward harsh! Right slide harsh! Forward harsh! Left oblique harsh! Backward harsh! To the rear..." he paused and counted to four in his head, "harsh!" Majority of the block became confused. Some of the members stopped in their tracks thinking of where to go, some turned around in the wrong direction, and some executed the command correctly. Mr. Rush couldn't help but laugh at the results. He just wanted to have some fun. He finally gave in and raised his blow horn. "Detail halt!"

"1, 2." the students responded.

"At ease. So, I'm pretty sure you can tell who is wrong and who is right. Now when you are marching backwards and someone calls 'To the rear', you just turn around and march FORWARD, not backwards. Now make the move to the sideline guys." Mr. Rush yelled. Most of the remaining students took their place at the sideline leaving a small portion of the group left. Zoey, Tommy, Alana, DJ, Jacky, 2 sophomores and 4 juniors were the last students left on the field. Their bandmates clapped and cheered for the group as they formed a smaller block on the field.

Mr. Rush turned to his students on the sideline and signaled them to quiet down. He turned back to the block on the field and raised his blow horn. "Well, it's nice to see that my two drum majors are still in." he joked. His staff and students laughed while Alana just rolled her eyes. He gave Mr. Rush a look and he nodded. "To the ready, my friends."

The students fell to the ready. Zoey felt very nervous at this point. She knew that Mr. Rush will try to throw in some kind of trick since there were only 11 students left in the march off.

"To the ready..." Mr. Rush said once more. It was now time to have a little fun. "Detail attend..." Mr. Rush stopped instantly and noticed mostly the whole group, including Tommy, moved before he could finish speaking.

"Looks like I spoke too soon," he laughed. "Alright guys, off the field. Tommy, just stand to the side to judge. So left on the field we have Miss Zoey Rivera, Jacky Penta, DJ Jackson, and our lovely drum major Alana McKenzie." The students cheered and clapped.

"Who do you think will win?" Gabby whispered to Danny.

"Honestly?" Danny asked. Gabby nodded. "I think Zoey. There's no way DJ will beat her, known fact."

Gabby giggled and looked over to the field. "I think Zo has this in the bag too...but who knows. Alana looks pretty...serious." she said as she pointed to Alana. She had her head down and looked like she was mumbling something to herself.

"Alright folks. Let's finish this thing. To the ready!" the students fell into position and waited.

"Detail attend hut!"

"Hut!" the students shouted.

"Detail parade hut!"

"Hut!" the students shouted again.

"Detail attend hut! Parade hut! Attend hut! Parade hut!" the students executed each command as they responded back.

"Detail right hace!"

"As you were!" Everyone but DJ shouted.

"Ah crud! Why does this always happen to me!" DJ yelled as he stumbled off the field.

"Maybe next time, Deej." Tommy chuckled as he patted him on the shoulder.

"Detail attend hut!" Mr. Rush shouted.

"Hut!" The remaining students moved to attention.

"Detail right hace!"

"1,2."

"Right hace!"

"1,2."

"Left hace!"

"1,2"

"Mark time harsh!" The students began to mark time as Mr. Perez clapped. "About turn harsh! About turn harsh! Right turn harsh!" Zoey and Alana finished the three commands. Unfortunately, Jacky confused herself and turned around completely and did an about turn instead of a right turn.

"Well looky here, we are down to two! Zoey and Alana everyone!" The students began to cheer again. Some of the juniors cheered on for Alana as more than half the band cheered for Zoey.

"Oh boy..." Zoey said to herself.

"To the ready! Detail attend hut!"

"Hut!" the girls shouted. Mr. Rush started to clap very fast, giving Mr. Perez the tempo.

"Mark time harsh!" The girls began to move their feet fast. "Forward harsh! Backward harsh! Left slide harsh! Forward harsh! Right oblique harsh! Right oblique harsh! Left slide harsh! Forward harsh! To the rear...harsh!" The girls were moving fast on the field, one command after another. Now it was time for the trouble.

"Backwards harsh! Right slide harsh! Right oblique harsh! Backward harsh! About turn harsh! About turn harsh! About turn harsh! Left turn harsh!" Zoey choked up on the breathing as she did each command. By the time she finished doing the left turn, she was marching backwards and noticed that Alana was marching forward.

"Crap...I lost..." she said quietly.

"Detail halt!"

"1, 2." The girls shouted. Mr. Rush signaled the staff and Tommy to come over to the field. They talked for a few seconds and came to a decision as to who won the march off.

"Girls, line up on the 50 please." Mr. Rush turned around to the students on the sideline and sighed softly. "Now, let's give Alana and Zoey a round of applause. They did a great job!" The band clapped and cheered for their peers. "Obviously, we have one winner. And we shall reveal why this person won in a minute. But first, we salute the second place winner."

Alana glanced over to Zoey and laughed to herself. "Too bad Rivera...looks like your best just wasn't good enough."

Zoey sighed deeply as Mr. Rush and Tommy approached her and Alana.

"To the ready girls. And great job, both of you." Mr. Rush said with a smile. He nodded to Tommy and he walked up to Alana. Gabby and Jacky gasped excitedly, grabbing each other.

"Yeah Zo!" DJ said quietly, giving Danny a high five.

"Alana, detail attend hut!" Tommy commanded.

"Hut!" Alana shouted loudly. Her eyes began to tear up with anger as Tommy saluted her.

"Congrats Ala-" Tommy began to say, but Alana walked away to the sideline.

"Second place winner, Alana McKenzie everyone." Mr. Rush hesitantly said. The juniors stood up to clap for Alana, but she was not interested. The rest of the band got up and ran to the field circling around Mr. Rush, Zoey, and Tommy. Tommy looked at Mr. Rush with the same thought: is Alana coming to salute.

Mr. Rush just gave Tommy a nod to move on. Tommy sighed and moved in front of Zoey. "Detail attend hut!"

"Hut!" Zoey happily shouted. Tommy saluted and then shook her hand.

"Great job, Zo." he said with a smile.

"Thanks." she responded quietly.

"First place winner, Zoey Rivera!" Mr. Rush shouted. The band cheered loudly as Zoey's friends tackled her to the floor. Ms. Carey walked over and handed Mr. Rush a card.

"Thanks Marlene. Okay, let Zoey live a little, will ya?" The students got up from the ground and continued to cheer for Zoey. "Zoey, you have won yourself a $20 gift card to Stewart's! If I say so myself, I'm quite jealous." Mr. Rush laughed. He handed the card to Zoey and patted her on the back. "Great job, Miss Rivera."

Zoey nodded and smiled. _I won...I actually won!_

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><p><strong>Gotta love happy endings. New chapter will be up soon!<strong>


	15. Chapter 14

**A/N: Well, I just realized that this story is just about over soon :( But no worries! I have a few more chapters left to go with this story. And then we go on to the next story, Zoey and the gang start school and the season! But for now, let's just continue with this ;) So now we're just about halfway done with band camp. We begin with Zoey running a marching clinic...enjoy!**

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><p>A couple of more days passed and it's about half way into the second to last week of band camp. Although they lost a lot of time in the beginning of camp due to the field situation, Mr. Rush and the band are up to schedule. The last thing they have to do is finish charting the show up to where Mr. Rush wanted to stop until school started up in September. Alana was still having some trouble adapting with the whole "Zoey and Jacky being assistant drum majors" thing, but she tried to not let it get to the best of her. However, she was giving a lot of attitudes towards the band, especially Zoey. She hasn't gotten over her loss against Zoey yet.<p>

It was a sunny Friday afternoon and Zoey had some of the first year marchers over her house for another emergency marching clinic. Mr. Rush wanted them to become good marchers by the first football game during the first week of school. Since Zoey was in charge of marching, he asked her to hold some extra clinics during her spare time preparing the new members. And as one of the band leaders, she did just that.

Around 2 p.m., Kaitlyn drove by Zoey's house to pick her up for the weekend. She got out the car and walked up to the door. She knocked and Jesse answered.

"Hi Katie!" he said excitedly.

"Hi, how are you sweetie?"

"I'm good."

"That's good." She said as she walked in.

"My parents are in the kitchen if you want to go talk to them. Zo's out back doing something."

"Oh yeah?" Kaitlyn raised an eyebrow and smiled. "Do you know what she's doing exactly?"

Jesse shook his head. "Beats me."

"I see. Well I'll talk to you later, kiddo." Kaitlyn gave Jesse a hug and went to the kitchen. She walked outside to the backyard and saw Zoey and Conner's parents sitting in chairs watching the clinic.

"Hello everybody." She said as she took a seat next to the four people.

"Hey there, Kaitlyn. How are you?" Harry asked.

"Pretty good. Just getting by day by day."

"Nice to hear." Susan said.

"So what made you drop by?" Angela asked.

"I came to get Zoey, but Jesse said she was doing something in the backyard?" she said as she saw some kids moving around.

"Oh yeah, she's running a marching clinic right now." Ben pointed out.

"Ah, I see." Kaitlyn replied.

"She was put in charge of marching and Mr. Rush needed her to run extra clinics before the first game. They should be done soon. She had it going since eleven I believe." Susan said.

"So you all have been here watching them?"

"Basically. There was nothing else to do and we ran out of stuff to talk about. So we decided to come outside and watch." Angela said.

"I've been watching and some of the kids can't march for their lives." Harry said as some of the adults laughed.

"Now Harry, that's not nice to say at all. With Zoey's help they will become excellent marchers. Better than what you can do anyway." Susan chuckled.

"Oh yeah, sure. Just make fun of me." Harry laughed.

"Detail band halt!" Zoey screamed.

"1, 2!" the young marchers yelled.

"Alright guys at ease." They took a seat on the grass. Zoey took out her cell to look at the time. "Ok, so now it's just about 2:20. Not so bad for our first outside clinic without Mr. Rush. You all did seem to do a little better. I have to get going, but I think Jacky said she would help anyone that still wants to do some more marching today till about four. So if you want you can give her call. Otherwise, I'll see you guys Monday." She waved good-bye to the band folks and they left. She walked over to her parents and the other three adults.

"Tired now, huh?" Ben asked.

"You have no idea how bad some of those kids march. First years weren't that bad last year." Zoey said.

"You got that right." Harry said.

"Harry!" Angela and Susan said. He just shrugged his shoulders and laughed.

"Zo, we should get going. I have some stuff I have to do before we head to my house." Kaitlyn said.

"Ok I'll run upstairs and grab my bag." Zoey ran off into the house.

"Kaitlyn, don't you feel like relaxing for the weekend? You've been doing a lot of work with the school since you got back." Susan said.

"Nah, I feel like doing some other stuff than just relaxing. I have so much on my plate it's ridiculous. Zoey won't be a problem at all." Kaitlyn replied.

"Well have fun. Make sure she doesn't get into any fights. That girl has been injured enough." Ben said.

"That coma was only one thing Ben, besides the other stuff that led up to it." Harry said.

"That's exactly my point. That's too much as it is." Ben said.

"Don't worry about that. I've got it under control." Kaitlyn chuckled. Zoey came running outside and gave her parents a hug good-bye.

"Behave yourself, Zo. Don't give her any trouble." Susan said narrowing her eyes on her daughter.

"Have I ever, mom?" Zoey laughed. She and Kaitlyn waved good-bye and made their way to the car.

"So where would you like to go first?" Kaitlyn asked as she got in the car.

"Hmm…" Zoey got in and closed the door, "I don't know."

"I guess we can stop by the house so you can drop your stuff off."

"That would work," Zoey replied with a smile. Kaitlyn started the car and drove off.

"Want to go to the pier? I hear they have a new ride opened up."

"Yeah, definitely. I think Conner did mention something about a new ride opening today."

"Alright that sounds like a plan." Kaitlyn smiled.

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><p>After dropping Zoey's stuff at Kaitlyn's house, the duo went to the pier. Kaitlyn parked near Nathan's and they decided to grab a bite there. Zoey sat in a booth while Kaitlyn stood on line to order food. She placed her bag on the table and sighed. A night off from anything related to marching band was something she needed. Band camp has been very stressful the past few weeks. It was nice to be out by the beach with a close friend. Moments later, Zoey's cell phone began to buzz. She awoke from her thoughts and searched through her bag for her phone. She flipped opened the phone without looking at the caller ID.<p>

"Hello?" she answered.

"Zo! Where are you?" Jacky screamed from the other end.

"Hi Jacky, I'm at Nathan's right now. Why?"

"I was going to tell you to come to the pier, but you're here already! Who are you with?"

"Just Kaitlyn. I'm going to her house for the weekend, remember?"

"Oh yeah...you did mention that two days ago..."

"Duh, Jack." Zoey laughed. She loves how dense her best friend can get sometimes.

"Well hey, I'll come by there now. I have nothing to do at the moment and I'm only a good three minutes away from there. So I'll see you soon!" Jacky shouted excitedly.

"Alright, see you soon." Zoey hung up and threw her phone back into her bag. Kaitlyn arrived at the table with a big tray of food.

"You okay, Zo?" she asked as she sat across from Zoey.

"Oh...yeah, I'm fine." Zoey grabbed a hot dog and took a bite. "Jacky just called me, that's all. Can you pass the ketchup?"

Kaitlyn reached over to the booth behind her and grabbed a ketchup bottle. She handed Zoey the bottle and grabbed a hot dog for herself. "What did Jacky want?"

"She wanted to know what I was doing," Zoey replied as she took another bite into her hot dog. "I told her I was here and she said she was going to walk over."

"Ah, I guess she's here with everyone else to try out that new ride on the pier."

"I guess so...I never asked." Zoey snagged a few fries from the tray and dipped it into the puddle of ketchup she created on a napkin.

Minutes later, Jacky walked into Nathan's and spotted the duo in the booth. She walked over and smiled. "Hey guys!"

"Hey Jacky," Zoey said as she moved over to let her sit down.

"Hello Jacky. How are you?" Kaitlyn asked.

"Oh I'm great! Enjoying my Friday night off and it feels amazing!" Jacky replied with a sigh.

"Oh yes, you didn't have rehearsal today," Kaitlyn said as she grabbed a fry. "How's the band looking now?" Jacky and Zoey exchanged looks and sighed. Jacky took some of Zoey's fries and ate them.

"Well, let's just say I've seen worse..." she replied.

"Oh come on, it's not _that_ bad Jacky," Zoey said as she looked at her friend. Jacky gave her a look that said something different. "Okay...it is that bad..."

"How so? From what I saw at your house earlier, things seemed to be okay." Kaitlyn replied.

"It was. I mean, the first years were doing a lot better compared to the last few clinics I had to run. I just don't think they will be ready come the first week of school."

"Yeah I agree with Zo. I mean, some of them came by my house from Zoey's and they just didn't have the slightest clue in the world. It makes me want to cry." Jacky added.

"It will take some time to get better. I'm pretty sure it took you two a while to learn everything, right?" Kaitlyn asked.

"I don't know about Zoey, but I did have a hard time at first. I learned from my brother though. He taught me everything and I finally got the hang of it after 3 weeks." Jacky replied.

"I actually caught on pretty quick," Zoey said as she finished her hot dog. "Once I saw the upperclassmen do the first run through Mr. Rush did, it was pretty easy."

"Of course, Miss Rivera has to be the show off, once again." Jacky laughed. She nudged her friend lightly.

"It's not showing off, Jacky. She just catches on to learning new things very quickly." Kaitlyn defended. Zoey gave her a quick smile and continued to eat her food.

"Yeah, yeah. If you say so..." Jacky replied back. Her phone began to ring seconds later. She glanced at it to see who texted her. "Well I have to get going. My mom is here to take me over to DJ's. I'll see you two later." Jacky waved good-bye and walked out of Nathan's.

"She's something else, isn't she?" Zoey laughed.

"You can say that," Kaitlyn chuckled. She looked down at her watch and her eyes grew widely. "Hey, let's get out of here and head down to the pier. They close in four hours." The duo threw out their trash and made their way down the boardwalk to the pier. During their walk, they stopped at a few game stands and won a big stuffed bear and a bag of chocolate fudge. When they arrived at the pier, they ran into Conner, Gabby, Ellyn and Danny. They four friends smiled and waved hello.

"Hey guys," Zoey greeted her friends.

"Hey Zo," Conner said with a weak smile.

"Hi Ms. Sanderson. What brings you two here?" Ellyn asked.

"We heard a new ride opened up so we came to check it out. Care to join us?" Kaitlyn asked. The four students nodded and the group of six made their way to the ticket booth. They bought wrist bands so they can go on all the rides as many times as they want. They started off with the easy rides first; the typical fun houses and small rides. Once they tackled those rides, they finally made their way over to the big roller coasters. They rode each roller coaster four times each, including the new roller coaster that opened up. It had many loops and turns. On top of that, it was a stand up roller coaster. After going on every ride on the pier, the group decided to go out for ice cream. They walked to the closest ice cream stand on the boardwalk and Kaitlyn treated everyone. They walked down to the beach and sat near the closest spot with rocks. Danny had a soccer ball so he, Gabby and Kaitlyn decided to kick it around while Ellyn stood by playing the part of referee. Conner and Zoey sat on the rocks and watched.

"So...how've you been?" Conner asked.

"Very busy, exhausted, annoyed with the first year marchers," Zoey laughed. She sighed deeply and looked at Conner. "But other than that, I've been great. How about you?" she asked quietly.

"I can't say I've been as busy as you, but I've had better days. These past few weeks just have been...boring..."

"Why do you say that?"

"I haven't seen my best friend in ages..." Conner quietly responded. "I think she doesn't like me anymore."

Zoey punched Conner on his arm lightly and laughed. "Oh please, that's just sad."

"It's the truth. We haven't talked in God knows how long."

"I've been busy with band Conner, you know that."

"Yeah I know...but still. I just...miss you...that's all."

"Same here..." Zoey sighed and moved closer to Conner. She rested her head on his shoulder and sighed. "No worries though, band is almost over. We'll have enough to make up the lost time before school starts up. We can hang out all we want."

"I'd like that, Zo." Conner smiled. He wrapped his arms around his friend and gave her a tight squeeze. Zoey gave Conner a small peck on the cheek and sighed. She has missed her best friend. Being in band has taken up a lot of her time, but there's nothing else she would want to do.

"Hey guys, let's get a small game going on!" Danny yelled. Conner looked at Zoey and she gave him a small nod. The duo got up from the rocks and ran over to the others hand in hand. They started the game instantly, girls verses boys. Ellyn ran after the the group shouting things a referee would say during a game. This was a perfect summer night, having a good time with friends.

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><p><strong>Liked this chapter? Didn't like it? Let me know! Although this story is almost coming to an end, the next one will be great! Most of it is already written!<strong>


	16. Chapter 15

**A/N: Well, we're at the end of this story my friends. I wanted to continue with this story a little more, but I'm out of ideas. However, there's more to look forward to in the next story! A lot more will be happening with Zoey, her friends, and the marching band. I hope you enjoyed this short story! Although I didn't get any reviews (which I would love to have for the next story, btw), I did get a lot of hits! I got just about 400 hits! Either way, thanks to those that took the time out and read my story :-) The next story, _Welcome to the 8th Grade!,_ will be up and running soon!**

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><p>"Let's take it back again!" Mr. Rush shouted through his blow horn. The band started to make their way to the back of the field to start the show once more. Mr. Rush walked over to the drum major podium and assisted Alana off.<p>

"Can you try to be more enthusiastic with this run, Alana?"

"Pfft." Alana stormed away towards the back of the field. Mr. Rush sighed deeply as he watched his drum major walking in the distance. Tommy and Mr. Perez appeared by his side, only making him curse under his breath.

"Don't even stress it, Kev. Today's the last day and we have a couple of days off before we start back up again." Eric said.

"Don't stress it? I'm sick of dealing with her nasty attitudes and lack of communication." Mr. Rush said with anger. He turned towards Tommy and eyed him down. "Get her to cooperate now or she's out. For good." He grabbed his blow horn and began to walk onto the field.

"How am I suppose to do that?" Tommy asked trailing behind.

Mr. Rush turned quickly with an unpleasant look on his face. "I don't care how you do it. Just do it, Tommy. I'm sick and tired of playing these games with her. If she doesn't want to be here because of some stupid grudge against an 8th grader, then that's her problem, not mine."

"So why don't you tell her yourself? You're the band director, here."

Mr. Rush slowly walked up to Tommy, now staring at him. "You're her partner. Trust me, if I have to talk to her, it won't be pretty. Just. Do. It." He turned quickly and walked towards the band. Tommy sighed and followed behind.

"Alright, this is your last chance to perfect what we've done so far with the show." Mr. Rush said to the band. "We need to make sure that this run is smooth. I don't want to see stupid mistakes. Guard, I want to hear you counting! Now make this a good run. I want to end on a good note." He turned to Tommy and gave him a small nod, then began walking to the sideline.

Tommy turned around to face the band. Alana and the two guard captains remained facing forward.

"To the ready!" Tommy shouted. The band and guard quickly moved to position. "Detail attend hut!"

"Hut!" the group shouted.

Tommy grabbed his whistle from his neck and blew it three times. One of the snare drummers banged his sticks together three times, indicating the band to start marking time. The drummer played taps on the rim of his snare drum to keep time.

"Forward harsh!" Tommy shouted over the sound of the snare drum. The band began to march forward at the back of the football field. As soon as they approached the 50 yard line, the band turned and began to march straight down the line. The band stopped marching, but continued to mark time once they reached the middle of the football field. Tommy walked over to the side of the band and crossed his arms. The center snare drummer saw the movement. Tommy blew his whistle twice, each one being long. As he walked back to his spot, the drum played the closing to their cadence. Once it was done, the whole band stopped marking time and fell to the ready. The drum majors and guard captains stepped forward and completed their salute.

"You guys have to come up with a more creative salute, just saying..." Mr. Rush shouted from the sideline.

Tommy made his way to the podium while the guard captains rain to the back to be with the guard.

"At ease, guys..." Alana commanded. The band slowly walked to their opening chart. Alana walked over to the sideline and stood in place, waiting for Tommy's next move. She glanced up at Tommy with her arms up.

Tommy turned around on the podium and gave a small salute to the imaginary crowd. He spun back around and raised his arms. He looked over to the center snare drummer near the 50 yard line. They made eye contact and Tommy counted off. The drum line began playing the first few counts of the first song, with the rest of the band and guard joining in moments after.

Six minutes later, the band finished their run. Alana was on the podium at this point. The band still was in place on the field in their ending positions. Alana spun around and saluted, indicating the show was done. She spun back around and blew her whistle four times. The snare drummer indicated the tempo through his drum sticks and started to play taps as the band started to line up. The drum line started to play their cadence as the band made their way off the field. Alana and Tommy ran in front of the band and began to march with them. Mr. Rush motioned them to circle up on the field. The band followed the drum majors onto the field and made a circle around them and Mr. Rush.

"Detail halt!" Mr. Rush shouted.

"1, 2!" the band responded.

"At ease..." Mr. Rush looked around at the students before him. He gave them a small smile and sighed. "Well, I want to say that this was the best run we had all day." The students began to cheer and clap in relief. He took a quick look at this watch and read 9:17 p.m.

"I'm sorry that I kept you so late today, but I wanted to make sure that the show was good to go before the first football game. We do have a few days off and will start rehearsal again on the first day of school. So enjoy the time you have off and expect to work hard when we start up again. Great job everyone. See you on the first day!" The students clapped with excitement and started to part ways to the band room.

"Kevin, didn't you forget something?" Ms. Carey asked as she walked up with the rest of the staff.

"No." he answered.

"I thought you wanted to talk to the kids?" Mr. Horn suggested.

"I will...once majority of the band is gone. I have to make a few calls. Lawrence and Eric, mind helping the pit?" The two men nodded their heads and Mr. Rush started walking towards the band room.

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><p>Fifteen minutes later and the band room was left empty, for the most part. Half of the students have gone home while some remained outside and in the band room. Mr. Rush just finished his last phone call as his wife, Nicole, walked into the office.<p>

"You must have been very busy today, huh?" She said taking a seat on his desk.

"You have no idea. It's been a stressful week in general." Mr. Rush said as he slouched back into his big chair.

"Having trouble with Alana again?"

"Again?" he snorted while sitting up. "It never stopped. This girl has been driving me mad all because she can't step up to fulfill her responsibilities as a drum major."

"Well, she must have been working hard since she's back, right?"

"Not really. She learned the music to the show. Just not up to her full potential though." Mr. Rush sighed.

"It will get better. Once the season actually starts, she'll want to do better."

"I hope so. I don't know how much longer I can deal with the attitudes. And with Zoey being her biggest rival, it can get worse."

"Zoey? What does Zoey have to do with anything? Last time I checked, she was only the flute section leader."

"She and Jacky Penta has been named assistant drum majors. Since then, Alana and Zoey have been neck and neck with each other."

"Really?" Nicole asked with concern.

"Yeah. Speaking of them, I need to have a little talk with my leaders. I'll see you at home." Mr. Rush gave his wife a small kiss and walked out the office. The band room was now completely empty. He walked out of the room and noticed Mr. Perez talking to Tommy and Jacky.

"Eric, is everyone still here?"

"Uh yeah. Everyone else is outside waiting for the rest of the students' rides home."

"Go out and get them all. Jacky and Tommy, come in and take a seat." Confused, the two walked into the band room and took a seat in the first row. Seconds later, Alana, Zoey, Manny the drum captain, the two guard captains, and three more of the student leaders walked into the band room. The rest of the staff members followed and grabbed a seat behind the students. Mr. Rush closed the door and walked over to his conducting podium. He stood facing his student leaders. He gave his staff a nod and took in a deep breath.

"You're probably wondering why I asked you all in here, right?" he asked. The students gave him a quick nod. "Well...I asked you here because you are my leaders of the band. You ten, you ten are my leaders. The same leaders I depend on." Mr. Rush grabbed a chair from the front row and sat down in front of his students.

"Okay so...what's the point of this meeting again? Did I miss something?" Alana asked. Tommy nudged her in the side.

"Alright, I'll just get to the point. I want this year to be a good one for all of us. These past few weeks, I had to deal with some stupid and mindless things with some students in the band. Especially from some of my leaders. I won't tolerate it anymore." He stood up from the chair walked back to the podium.

"When we start rehearsals again, I expect nothing but cooperation from everyone, you hear me? I don't want any more attitudes. I want you guys to be able to work together and keeping this band strong. I really don't want to end up kicking people out because they can't work together. Just...please, keep a positive attitude while your here. I want a successful season, just as bad as you guys. Okay?" Mr. Rush looked around at his leaders and glanced up at the clock. "You're free to go."

The students got up and left, wishing the staff a good night.

"Do you think that adjusted Alana's attitude?" Mr. Horn asked.

"Who knows...we just have to wait and see..." Mr. Rush replied.

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><p>The couple of days went by and it was the last day of August. Band rehearsal starts up again on the first day of school, which was only five days away. Everyone was starting to get back into school mode and wished that the summer was longer.<p>

Zoey, Conner, Ellyn, Danny and Tony were at the school in their new classroom, bringing stuff in to set up for the first day. The rest of the class was with Kaitlyn, bringing in more stuff from her car to the room.

"I like this room. Much more spacious than the room we had downstairs last year." Danny said.

"And the one room we had in sixth grade too." Conner added.

"Yeah, it's a nice size for us. And we're near the bathrooms too." Ellyn said.

"Yup…" Zoey walked around the room, observing the new space. She looked over at the door and looked at the number it had. "Homeroom 270; our last homeroom in middle school."

"I know…can you believe it?" Cindy said walking in with a box.

"It's insane how the years just fly by." Joan added following behind with another box.

"Our last year before we get four more years closer to the real world." John said coming in with two boxes. Kevin then came in with two more and everyone else came and took a seat at a desk.

"Yeah, it's crazy. Just think about it…it seems like we only started pre-k yesterday." Bryan said.

"Well all of you grew up so fast." Kaitlyn replied.

"I still can't believe how fast these years have gone by." Maria added.

"Neither of us can." Carlos said.

"Just think…next Wednesday, we become the rulers of the school." Randy said with excitement.

"The rulers of the school, Randy?" Tierra asked a little dumbfounded.

"Yeah totally. No sixth or seventh graders will have the guts to mess with us." Randy implied.

"Maybe not us, but possibly you." Zoey laughed.

"I wonder how this year will turn out." Mike said.

"Yeah, since we have the GEPA this year too." Cathy added. Everyone in the room groaned, but Kaitlyn laughed.

"You all act like the GEPA will end your lives if you don't pass." She said.

"Hey it screws up our freshman year." Jose said.

"Not necessarily. You have to take a class during the summer if you don't pass the GEPA. So depending if you fail the class or not, you get to leave it the following year or take another level of it." Zoey said.

"Wow, that's just as bad." Danny said.

"Well, you could get out of it, but it's like a pain to get it done though." Ellyn added.

"How about we get through the eighth grade first, huh?" Kaitlyn suggested. They nodded and looked around the empty room.

"I'm looking forward to this year. Something tells me that this year will be really fun, and it's not because it's our last year." Zoey said.

"We'll never know until it happens." Conner said. Kaitlyn grabbed her bag and turned off the lights in the room.

"Well until next Wednesday, we will have to put all that on pause. Now let's get going. I'd like to enjoy what's left of the summer until I have to be back here Tuesday morning." She said motioning everyone out of the room. As soon as everyone got out and went downstairs, Kaitlyn took one more look in the classroom, sighed with relief and locked the door.

Summer was coming to an end, but that doesn't mean the end of the gang's journey. This summer was only a jump-start to what Zoey, Conner, their friends, and Kaitlyn will experience throughout the school year. It's the start of something new, the beginning of a new adventure. School is just around the corner. The fun is only getting started.


End file.
